South Carolina voters went to the polls Tuesday in Republican primaries that will decide the GOP nominees for governor and U.S. Senate, with Sen. Lindsey Graham seeking a fifth term and the party hoping to keep control of a state it has dominated for decades.
Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, had Donald Trump's endorsement before his campaign had even begun, a reminder of how central the president remains to the state party. Republican contenders have spent months trumpeting their loyalty to Trump, and the contest has made clear that his backing is still treated as the strongest line of attack and the quickest path to the finish.
That matters most in a state where Democrats are still looking for their first statewide victory in 20 years. South Carolina Republicans have kept a long winning streak alive across offices, and Tuesday's primary is a test of whether that run can continue under the same political formula that has carried them for years: stay close to Trump, and hope the voters who still trust him follow.
In the governor's race, Trump backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette over several rivals, including U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, and Evette's final rally on Monday in Greer, South Carolina, was a closing pitch built around that support. The question on Tuesday was not simply whether she could top her opponents, but whether she could do it outright or be pushed into a runoff on June 23.
The race also carried a sharper edge than usual because Republicans are leaning so heavily on Trump's popularity in South Carolina even as that support has shown some wavering nationwide during the war with Iran. That has not broken his hold in this state, but it has added a quiet strain to a primary season that was otherwise built around his endorsement and the candidates' efforts to prove they deserved it.
For Graham and Evette, the ballots cast Tuesday are the first real answer. If either falls short of an outright win, the fight does not end with the primary night map; it moves to June 23, where the party's grip on the state's biggest races will be tested again, one more time, by the same voters who decided to send them there.
