Sister of pro-Israel stalwart Lindsey Graham advances to runoff in GOP Senate primary

Darline Graham, who was appointed to her late brother’s seat, will face off against US Rep. Ralph Norman to represent South Carolina Republicans in the November general election

JTA — South Carolina Senator Darline Graham and US House Representative Ralph Norman will advance to a special primary runoff in two weeks, when voters will decide which GOP candidate might take the vacant seat of the late Lindsey Graham.

Just over an hour after polls closed, at about 8:15 p.m. local time, the Associated Press declared that Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s younger sister, would advance to a runoff election. At that point Graham had secured 32.6% of the vote, with 39% of ballots counted. Around 45 minutes later, the AP announced that Norman had earned the second spot, with 24.3% of the vote and 81% of ballots counted.

“I decided to answer the call to serve because South Carolina and President Trump need a leader who’s tough, principled and will fight to advance our conservative values in Washington,” Graham told supporters on Tuesday night.

Graham and Norman were up against eight fellow Republicans, including US House Representative Russell Fry, who trailed behind them with 20.4% of the votes at the time the race was called. In South Carolina, primary contenders need to win a majority of votes in order to avoid a two-candidate runoff, now scheduled for August 25.

In the November general election, either Graham or Norman will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who is unlikely to prevail in the solidly Republican state.

Tuesday’s race marked the second time in two months that GOP voters came to the polls to select a Senate candidate, and now they will need to do so a third time. Longstanding senator Lindsey Graham, a top ally of Israel in the US Senate and supporter of military action against Iran. won the original primary in June but died suddenly from an aortic dissection on July 11.

“This is a very emotional night because I’m usually standing here celebrating with Lindsey,” Darline Graham said on Tuesday night. “I know he’s looking down right now, smiling though. So that gives me peace. But it is difficult.”

Graham, who was 71 years old, served 23 years in the Senate and eight in the US House. He was a member of the Senate’s Armed Services and Budget committees and had traveled to Israel about a dozen times since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Heading into Tuesday’s primary, analysts expressed no doubt that the winner would be pro-Israel. They stressed, however, that matching Graham’s level of foreign policy experience and focus on Israel, a place he often visited, would be a formidable task.

“Whoever wins this is going to be an ally of Israel,” Christopher Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in the lead-up to the race. “The question is whether they will be the champion for Israel that Lindsey Graham was.”

A few days after Graham’s death, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, appointed Darline Graham to complete the late senator’s term. Despite having minimal policy experience, such as a past role on the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, she earned President Trump’s support and soon declared her candidacy in the full race. Trump celebrated her advancement to the runoff in a Tuesday post on Truth Social.

Graham on Tuesday thanked Trump for “his steadfast support and his complete and total endorsement,” adding that she “will stand with him and fight for his agenda, just like Lindsey did.”

Israel has not been an active issue in the campaign, which has largely focused on domestic concerns like reducing spending, securing borders and promoting Trump-backed policies.

Darline Graham’s campaign ads have largely strayed from foreign policy, with a recent New York Magazine piece describing her as “running away from Lindsey’s legacy.”

Scott Huffmon, a political science professor at Winthrop University, said that with such a short window, Graham might need to prioritize issues that would be most effective among voters, like the economy. He also raised the idea that Graham might be shielding herself from attacks linked to her comparative inexperience.

Steve Rabinowitz, a seasoned Democratic political consultant and former White House press aide, added that she might think “she can ride the wave of her brother’s great support among the pro-Israel community, and that it doesn’t need to be said.”

“It’s not a top priority for South Carolina voters,” said Rabinowitz, founder of the Washington, DC-based public affairs firm, Bluelight Strategies. “It allows her to concentrate on the issues that South Carolinians care most about.”