South Carolina Republicans pick a Senate nominee on August 11, in a special primary to fill the seat of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, and the field runs at least ten deep [1]. If nobody clears a majority, the top two go to a runoff on August 25 [1]. The Democratic side is already settled: Dr. Annie Andrews won her party's nomination in the June primary [1].
The candidate reshaping the race is Darline Graham Nordone, the late senator's sister. Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her interim senator after her brother's death, a seat she holds until January, and President Trump has endorsed her for the full term [1]. She has never held elected office. Her public role until now was as her brother's "political confidant," a presence in his ads and at his rallies, with a professional background in disability advocacy [1].
Her first stump speech came Saturday in Lexington, at a forum where nine of the candidates each got five minutes [2]. "I certainly never expected to be on this stage, giving this stump speech," she told the crowd, before framing her candidacy squarely on the administration's terms: "I want to stand up for South Carolina, and I want to fight for President Trump's agenda" [2]. She narrowly won the event's informal straw poll over Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman [2].
The filed field of at least ten includes two sitting House members, Norman and Fry, along with former Gov. Mark Sanford and businessman Mark Lynch, who challenged Lindsey Graham in the June primary before the senator's death [1]. Duke Buckner, Mark McBride, Darius Mitchell, Clark Neilson, and Sam Shepherd round out the list [1].
Graham died of an aortic tear roughly three weeks before Saturday's forum [2]. The compressed calendar that followed produced an unusual contest: a nine-day sprint in which the interim appointment, the Trump endorsement, and the state's most famous political surname all belong to the same first-time candidate.
The runoff math is the practical story. With at least ten candidates splitting the August 11 vote, an outright majority is a high bar, and the August 25 runoff would turn the race into a two-week head-to-head almost immediately. Whoever emerges from that process faces Andrews.
