Darlene Graham pushed back Tuesday against criticism that she is being handed a Senate seat, saying she has to earn voters even after South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster appointed her. Speaking in an interview with Ryan Noble, Graham said she is not expecting the race to be given to her and wants the next two weeks to be about getting out to as many places as she can.
Her comments landed on the same day South Carolina was holding a special primary election to replace Lindsey Graham as the Republican candidate, a contest in which none of the candidates are expected to reach 50 percent and a runoff election is likely. That makes the final stretch especially important for a candidate who had been expected to serve in a caretaker role instead of running for a full term.
Graham tried to soften the edge of the fight by praising Lindsey Graham, saying he was amazing and that no one can fill his shoes. But that praise sits alongside the criticism that has followed her bid from the start: conservatives say she lacks the credentials and history in right-wing causes they want in the race, and her only political donation on record went to a South Carolina state senator who helped kill an abortion ban.
The contradiction is what gives her candidacy its force. Graham was appointed to the seat by McMaster, yet she is now trying to sell herself as a candidate who must win over skeptics one by one. She also did not vote in the 2024 presidential primary or the 2016 general election, details that have only sharpened doubts among critics who were already unhappy when she decided to run last month.
Trump has now backed Graham, giving her a major boost as the race heads toward the runoff that most observers expect. For Graham, the next question is whether that support can matter more than the suspicion around how she got into the race in the first place. Her answer, at least for now, is to keep moving until the primary math forces a second round.
