RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. President Donald Trump mobilized a last-minute surge for Senator Darline Graham as MAGA Inc. poured nearly $830,000 into the race on the eve of South Carolina’s Republican U.S. Senate runoff.
In support of Graham's campaign, the super PAC run by the president's advisers spent more than $827,000 on text messages and phone calls to voters on Monday, according to federal campaign finance filings.
The Trump-endorsed Graham, sister of the late-longtime Senator Lindsey Graham, will square off against U.S. Representative Ralph Norman in a battle for the Palmetto State's GOP nomination in a special primary Tuesday.
"It's going to be close, but we feel good,” Graham said to reporters Monday.
The investment by MAGA Inc. is significant, as the political action committee had mostly avoided funding this year's primary candidates. Trump's team has been nudged by Senate Republican leadership to step up for the president's midterm endorsees.
After rallying for Graham on Friday in Myrtle Beach, Trump made a final pitch for South Carolinians to vote for Graham, whom he called the “perfect person” to carry on the legacy of her brother.
“I asked her to do it. I got her into this whole thing,” Trump said during a Monday tele-rally. “I have to make sure she gets in because there will be nobody better.”
Graham faced recent criticism after saying national security “is not my thing” when asked during an August 18 debate about U.S. national security interests in Taiwan and the South China Sea.
In an interview Monday, she defended her legislative experience, drawing a parallel to Trump, who she said was also “not a politician” when he launched his first bid for the White House.
“Just like President Trump on day one, I’m not a politician—and I’m proud of that,” Graham said in an interview with Ainsley Earhardt on Fox & Friends .
Trump called Graham’s answer “honest” and emphasized her focus on affordability, contrasting her with her brother, a longtime foreign policy hawk who “was very much about foreign affairs.”
Patrick Casale, a Trump supporter and senior adviser to Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, told Newsweek that Trump’s endorsement of Graham was partly out of respect for his “tremendous friendship” with Lindsey.
Graham has the “namesake” and “may be a breath of fresh air in one area—and we know she will get along with Trump and act accordingly,” Casale said.
He added that he “appreciated” Graham’s debate answer acknowledging that foreign policy was not her “lane.” He called the race “interesting” and predicted Graham would advance to the November ballot, but suggested a Norman victory would not necessarily be viewed as a major loss for Trump.
“I don’t think [Senator Rick Scott] would be upset if Norman wins, and I don’t think Trump would be as upset as you think,” Casale said. “But on the surface, he supports her because of Lindsey Graham.”
Kalshi traders gave Graham a 67 percent chance of winning Tuesday's runoff, with Norman at 33 percent, as of Monday night.
The runoff will test Trump’s endorsement power as Graham faces the well-known Norman, who made his final campaign push Monday, participating in two events with pastors that ended in Greenville.
Greenville County typically casts the most votes in statewide GOP primaries but has bucked recent front-runners. Norman carried the county in this year’s gubernatorial primary, while Lindsey Graham lost it in the June primary.
Norman has touted his record of supporting Trump’s agenda in Congress while casting Graham as inexperienced and backed by the “Washington elite.”
Newsweek reached out to the campaigns of Graham and Norman outside of normal business hours on Monday.
The winner of Tuesday’s GOP runoff will face Democrat Annie Andrews in November. Democrats have not won a statewide elected office in South Carolina since 2006.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Edward T. Cummins .
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