Sen. Darline Graham won South Carolina’s Republican Senate primary runoff Tuesday despite admitting on a debate stage that she was “not that informed on national security,” a line her opponents tried to turn into proof she was unprepared for the Senate.
The Trump-backed incumbent defeated Rep. Ralph Norman with about 53.3% of the vote and roughly 91% of expected ballots counted, holding the seat previously occupied by her late brother, longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The win gave President Donald Trump the outcome he wanted in a contest that polling had shown to be tight before Election Day.
Trump celebrated the result on Truth Social after personally urging South Carolina Republicans to treat Graham’s race like his own.
At a Friday rally in Myrtle Beach, Trump told supporters that his voters often fail to appear for other Republicans when he is not on the ballot.
“They say Trump does great when he’s on the ballot. But when he’s not on the ballot, his people don’t come, and they don’t vote for senators, congressmen, and other Republicans,” Trump said.
He asked the MAGA base to show up for Graham anyway.
“What I want you to do is pretend – please – like I’m on the ballot,” Trump said. “Just come and vote. It’s so important.”
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Trump also defended Graham’s national security answer as honesty, saying she was focused on “the price of groceries.”
That remark became a central defense for Graham after Van Susteren asked during last Tuesday’s debate whether Taiwan and the South China Sea were national security issues for the United States.
Graham did not try to bluff her way through the answer. “I’m just going to be honest here. I’m not, on national security — I’m not that informed on national security,” Graham said.
She then framed her admission as the answer of someone who was not a scripted political veteran.
“I’m not a polished politician,” Graham said. “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military.”
Norman, a 73-year-old real estate developer and congressman since 2017, had already argued that Graham’s limited time in elected office should matter to Republican voters.
On Monday’s edition of Fox Business’s “The Bottom Line,” host Brian Brenberg asked Norman about the foreign policy issue that had shadowed the final days of the campaign.
“Contrary to my opponent, foreign policy and national security is a top concern,” Norman said.
Former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley also used Graham’s answer to argue that Lindsey Graham’s national security reputation could not simply be passed to his sister.
“Lindsey Graham was well informed on the United States’ national security. Graham admits she’s not,” Haley wrote on X. “This is not something you inherit. And it’s critical in the U.S. Senate.”
Darline Graham’s answer on Fox News’s “Hannity” was to shift the pressure back toward groceries, gas and other household costs.
“I think people in South Carolina are more worried about making ends meet,” she said last Wednesday. “So, they are concerned about a lot of other things other than Taiwan.”
She had made a similar point in a July interview, saying she sometimes watched her brother discuss national security on television and wished he would also talk about what “matters to the average person.”
Graham said she understood the importance of protecting the border and the country, but she wanted more attention on groceries, gas, health care and insurance.
That split from her brother’s best-known Senate focus did not stop Graham from running on his legacy.
Trump had strongly supported Republican Gov. Henry McMaster’s decision to appoint Graham after Lindsey Graham died unexpectedly in July, and the president remained involved through a Monday tele-rally with her.
During that call, Graham said Trump had “got her into this whole thing” and needed to make sure she won.
Graham also used a campaign ad to connect her late brother’s public service to conservative priorities of her own, including pro-life beliefs and a ban on biological men competing in women’s sports.
“Lindsey taught me public service isn’t about titles; it’s about helping people,” Graham said in the ad. “President Trump asked me to run for the Senate to work with him on the issues we care about.”
The ad also acknowledged that she had not planned to seek the office before her brother’s death.
“While I never wanted to be in this position. I’m ready to serve the people of South Carolina,” Graham said.
Trump praised Lindsey Graham after his death as “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known” and “a true American Patriot.”
Darline Graham said in July that prayer and her brother’s work pushed her to pursue a full term.
“I’ve thought, and I prayed,” she told Hannity. “He’s worked so hard for so long, I just, I can’t just let that die. I’ve got to step in and carry on his legacy. I know he cared about the people of South Carolina so deeply.”
The president’s political network put money behind the push. MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC, spent more than $827,000 supporting Graham in the runoff.
Graham raised more than $346,000 from July 23 to Aug. 5, according to the FEC.
She also drew support from Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, former Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and the Conservative Political Action Committee.
Trump-backed candidates had another runoff test Tuesday night in Oklahoma, where former state senator and former Oklahoma budget secretary Mike Mazzei won the Republican nomination for governor.
Mazzei defeated state Attorney General Gentner Drummond by less than a single point.
