Darline Graham and Ralph Norman head to South Carolina’s Senate runoff

Republican nominee to face Democrat Annie Andrews in midterm after rushed campaigns for Lindsey Graham’s seat

Reese Boyd, the chair of the Horry county Republican party marveled on Monday afternoon at how little time Senator Darline Graham and Representative Ralph Norman have had to campaign for the Senate primary: “This is not the normal way of things.”

“This is something that usually lasts at least, you know, the better part of a year,” he said. “People normally spend the better part of 18 months getting ready for it. Who knows? This may be the right way to do it? Who knows.”

On Tuesday, Graham and Norman will conclude a 45-day campaign sprint that began with the unexpected death of Lindsey Graham in July.

Henry McMaster, the state’s Republican governor, appointed Graham’s sister, Darline, to serve out the remainder of his term. Because Lindsey Graham had won the Republican primary, state law required a fresh election to replace him on the ballot in November. The winner will face Annie Andrews , a pediatrician and the Democratic candidate, in a state where Democrats haven’t won statewide in two decades.

Many observers had expected Darline Graham to serve in a caretaker role while South Carolina ’s political leadership staged a political knife fight for a rare shot at a US Senate seat. Instead, the political newcomer – a career civil servant who led the state’s commission for the blind – surprised the political establishment and announced her decision to stand for a full term – with the encouragement and backing of Donald Trump .

Graham overcame concerns about her lack of legislative experience earlier this month, claiming the top spot to advance to the 25 August runoff, from a sprawling, 10-candidate Republican field.

“I have said many times I’m not a politician, certainly not a career politician. I don’t speak politician,” Graham said recently, referring to a well-publicized gaffe in a debate last week with Norman, where she responded to a question about defense policy by saying that military stuff “is not my thing”.

Norman has pounced on her comment, highlighting it as an example of her unreadiness for the role.

“Imagine if I went to [head football coach] Dabo Swinney at Clemson and any of the coaches and said: ‘Look, I got a prospect I want you to look at, and I want them to,” Norman said to the Associated Press. “‘They can start. I want you to sign them up. They can start for the next six years.’ ‘What’s the qualifications?’ ‘They’re kin to Tom Brady.’ Tell me how that analogy doesn’t work here.”

Lindsey Graham had built a reputation as a foreign policy hawk , who championed the US war against Iran and rallied support for Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion. Darline Graham has framed her candidacy as a way to “carry my brother Lindsey’s legacy”.