Darline Graham wins South Carolina GOP runoff to replace her late brother

Darline Graham has secured the Republican nomination on South Carolina’s general election ballot to replace her late brother, Lindsey Graham. Ralph Norman during Tuesday’s special Republican primary runoff, two weeks after the pair emerged as the top two candidates from a 10-way primary. A newcomer to politics, Darline Graham defeated several prominent state figures in the contest triggered by her brother’s sudden death last month.

Henry McMaster to complete the remaining months of the term, she quickly secured an endorsement from President Donald Trump, who encouraged her to seek a full term and campaigned with her in South Carolina last week. Graham will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in November. On Monday, MAGA Inc., the super PAC that supports Trump and aligned Republicans — but that has spent little thus far on Trump's picks in this year's midterms — infused nearly $830,000 into Graham's campaign for voter calls and text message blasts.

Among the unknowns going into Tuesday was whether Trump's backing would be enough to boost the novice candidate with the famous last name, but whose political positions were previously unknown, across the finish line to the nomination. After losing a top Senate advocate when Lindsey Graham died July 11, Trump angled to play a role in picking his successor. Trump heralded the selection of Darline Graham to serve as her brother’s interim replacement as “a fabulous tribute.” He also urged her to run in the special primary, endorsing her before she’d made her candidacy official.

On Friday in Myrtle Beach, Trump reiterated that sentiment to a crowd of several thousand, encouraging people to vote for Graham to preserve tax cuts, among other things. Throughout her brief campaign, Graham did just that. She repeatedly stressed to voters her intent to support Trump’s policy positions and often referenced in particular her co-sponsorship of a voting bill that’s become a key priority for the president.

Casting his ballot for Graham at an early voting location near Trump's rally site, Robert Tropiano said Friday that the president's backing for the candidate was enough to win his support. Fresh off his unsuccessful primary run for governor, Norman entered the Senate contest as one of several politicians more familiar to South Carolina voters. He snapped up endorsements from the likes of Sens.

Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, as well as former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and Turning Point Action, the conservative youth movement founded by the late Charlie Kirk. During the sprint to the runoff, Norman — one of the most conservative U.S.