Trump's Trials - Sen. Darline Graham wins GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in South Carolina

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham won the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate. She will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews for the seat formerly held by her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR. From NPR news, I'm Steve Inskeep. South Carolina Republicans have chosen Senator Darlene Graham to run for their party in November. She was appointed to fill the Senate seat of her late brother, Lindsay Graham, and the election is to establish who has that job next year.

Graham defeated Congressman Ralph Norman. South Carolina Public Radio's Lewis Alfredo Garcia is covering this. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Glad to have you. What did Darlene Graham say about her win? So in her victory speech, she said she's ready to run and serve a full term. We lost a giant in Lindsay.

We've grieved as a family, and we've all grieved together as a state, haven't we? But tonight, you know what, we stand back up the way South Carolinians have done and look forward to the future. So both Graham and Norman were making stops in different cities leading up to Tuesday, but Graham had the direct backing of President Donald Trump. And I mean, South Carolina is a solid red state where he's still influential. Sure. So, you know, he supported her appointment initially and then sit at a rally in Myrtle Beach on Friday that he encouraged her to run. He straight up said, you know, he called her to run. And that northeast area of South Carolina, where the rally was,

was key to Graham's victory. The third-place candidate in the August 11th special primary election, well, he won eight Republican heavy counties in that area. And then he endorsed Graham, so she got a lot of those voters. Now she'll face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in November. So what do South Carolina voters tell you about why they supported her? Bottom line, I was out at the polls talking to people on Tuesday, a lot of people liked that she was a political outsider

despite her brother's history. Trump's Super PAC, MAGA, Inc, spent more than $800,000 on the day before the election for get-out-the-vote-vote-robocalls at text, so a lot of people were hearing about her leading up to Tuesday, and people felt like she stuck to conservative principles important to them, like her anti-abortion stance

and being outspoken against illegal immigration. Now, Norman falls along the same lines in those regards. Nobody I talked to mentioned her recent debate performance where she said she was not that informed on national security after being asked about Taiwan and the South China Sea. A lot of South Carolinians were really focused on issues specifically pertaining to South Carolina. And, of course, for some people,

it was her connection to Lindsay Graham. He essentially raised her after their parents died, and some voters I talked to really took that story to heart. Yeah, so you're telling me, I think this is bottom line, a story of name brands, one of the names being Graham, but the other name being Trump. What does this say about the power of the Trump endorsement?

Well, to get there, we have to go back a couple months. So the candidate he first backed in the GOP gubernatorial runoff back in June lost. He actually ended up endorsing both candidates for governor shortly before that election. So now with Graham's win, he's taken some credit. He essentially cultivated her campaign. He called her and encouraged her to run. And we're seeing this in other places, too. We're seeing this in Oklahoma.

Mike Masey, the Republican candidate for governor who Trump back, he won the primary there by a very close margin and will be on the ballot. GoFace Democratic nominee, Oklahoma House Minority Leader Cindy Munson. And it's a big victory for Trump here in the state, especially when leading up to Tuesday, polls hadn't really been released. And nobody really knew how this race was going to go. It's a big victory for him. Okay. South Carolina Public Radio's Lewis Alfredo Garcia. in Columbia, South Carolina. Thank you so much.

Appreciate it. Thank you. A note before we go, if you value this show and want to help keep it going, a free and totally easy way to support us is to rate and review Trump's terms on the platform where you listen

in a world of algorithms that goes a long way toward helping us reach new listeners. If you have left a review in the past, thank you so much. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.

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