Republicans Rebel as Trump Stumps for Nepo Sister Pick
Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images Donald Trump headed to South Carolina on Friday night to throw his Republican pick, Darline Graham, a lifeline in her bid to succeed her brother in the Senate.
But the race shows a stark reality: the president is struggling to get some Republicans to fall in line before the midterms.
The younger sister of late Sen.
Lindsey Graham has done little to reassure some GOP voters that she’s up for a six-year term.
The 62-year-old, who has never held elected office, is facing fallout for admitting at a debate this week that national security was not her thing; her latest response on abortion failed to convince MAGA influencers; and even the betting odds are not moving in her favor despite the president going all in.
On Friday, former South Carolina governor and congressman Mark Sanford, who came in fourth in the special election primary, said he would vote for Rep.
Ralph Norman in the runoff and asked his supporters to do the same.
“Are there things on which I disagree with Ralph? Absolutely.
But again there are no carbon copies as candidates, and I have seen firsthand his experience in legislative circles, matched by a conservative voting record and conservative stands,” Sanford wrote on X .
While Sanford has long charted his own path rather than march along with Trump, his choice could serve as a permission structure for other Republicans to do the same.
Businessman Mark Lynch, who also ran in the special election, responded to his post, “Well said.” Trump is not the only person scrambling to help Graham in the final stretch.
GOP Senate Whip John Barrasso also campaigned with her this week.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson wrote: “The establishment working to get Darline Graham across the finish line because Ralph Norman is reliably conservative, even when it defies the establishment, is something to behold.
Do they not understand Lindsey Graham’s relationship with the base GOP voters in SC doesn’t help their case?” Meanwhile, Susan B.
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