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South Carolina Republicans vying for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) slot on the November ballot squared off on a Monday debate stage with just over one week until the special primary election.
Lindsey Graham, 71, died in early July from an aortic dissection after serving in the upper chamber of Congress since the early 2000s. His sister, Sen. Darline Graham (R), was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) to finish his current term just days after his death, and she’s among the candidates running in an Aug. 11 special primary for a full term.
Darline Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) lead the GOP field in the latest polling, with Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.), former lawmaker and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) and businessman Mark Lynch (R) trailing behind. All five candidates took to the Monday stage, which is the first of two showdowns this week.
The same candidates qualified for a Tuesday night debate hosted by Nexstar Media Group, The Hill’s parent company, at 7 p.m. EDT.
The five candidates are among 10 Republicans who will be on the Aug. 11 ballot. If no candidate secures a majority of the vote next week, the race will head to an Aug. 25 runoff. The winner will face off against Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, in November, but the seat is all but assured to stay in GOP hands in the general election.
Here are the key takeaways from the debate:
Candidates tout alignment with Trump
Lindsey Graham was running for a fifth term in the Senate this fall, easily notching renomination in the initial June primary. After his unexpected passing, Trump said he recommended the late senator’s sister as an interim replacement, and later called on her to run for a full term.
“During her visit, I asked Darline, for the Good of our Nation, to run for the U.S. Senate in the Special Republican Primary on Tuesday, August 11, 2026. I hope Darline does this, in that there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey,” said Trump, who easily won South Carolina in each of his three elections.
Trump’s endorsement didn’t deter Republicans from crowding into the race, but his influence loomed large on the debate stage as Darline Graham touted his backing and her rival Senate hopefuls stressed their alignment with the president’s priorities.
“When President Trump called, I answered because I’m a hard worker, and I’m proud to have his endorsement. I’m not a politician, but like Lindsey, I have a servant’s heart,” she said in her opening statement.
Each candidate was asked how they’d handle balancing the president’s interest with those of South Carolina.
“I have agreed with the president overwhelmingly. When we overlapped when I was in Congress, I voted with him 90 percent of the time. But where I’ve disagreed, I have disagreed, and I think that that’s the American way,” said Sanford.
Fry said Trump has “an open-door policy” for disagreements. Norman, who initially endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) over Trump in the 2024 White House race, said the president “loves competing ideas.” Lynch said “iron sharpens iron,” while Darline Graham stressed “I’m 100 percent behind him.”
Fry hits Darline Graham over slim experience
Fry in his closing statement appeared to take a jab at Darline Graham over her lack of political experience, while she hit back that her outside perspective is an asset on Capitol Hill.
“Look, the United States Senate is no place for on-the-job training,” he said, touting his own work in Congress. “I didn’t inherit a record. I earned it.”
Darline Graham, 62, has never served as an elected official. She was close with her brother and was a pillar in his political life. She’s now the first woman and first graduate from a historically Black college and university (HBCU) to represent South Carolina in the Senate.
“Obviously, I’m not a politician. I never saw myself being a politician. We all know why I’m here. I actually think it’s part of God’s plan,” Darline Graham said in her closing statement.
She acknowledged that her on-stage rivals had decades of experience, but pitched herself as “a bargain shopper” and someone who understands “the average struggles of the American family.”
Darline Graham also snapped at Lynch, who lost to Lindsey Graham in the initial June GOP Senate primary and had namedropped the late senator at points in the hourlong debate program.
“And I don’t know if I can rebut, but Mr. Lynch mentioned Lindsey Graham multiple times, and I don’t know if he’s just afraid Lindsey beat him, and now his little sister’s going to beat him, but I just don’t like hearing that,” she added.
Candidates back filibuster reform
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said that Republicans don’t have enough votes to overcome a filibuster or change Senate rules to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
The House-passed the bill, which is one of Trump’s top legislative priorities, has stalled in the Senate, where Republicans have a 53-seat majority but need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Trump has called for Thune to keep the Senate in session until it passes or eliminates the filibuster.
Asked about how they’d help push the bill through, several South Carolina Senate hopefuls supported filibuster reform.
Darline Graham pointed out her position as a co-sponsor of the bill, one of her first moves in the upper chamber, and stressed she’s willing to stay through the Senate recess “to get it done.”
“And I am all for — this is where I differ from my brother — getting rid of the filibuster to get this done, because eventually the Democrats are going to get rid of it anyway,” she said.
Norman pledged to “do whatever it takes to make the case for abolishing the filibuster.”
Fry argued that “the Senate needs to be shaken up.”
“The old way of doing things is not the way that we need to do things now. And if that means changing the rules of the Senate and changing the filibuster, then we absolutely have to do that,” the House lawmaker said.
The positions — particularly Darline Graham’s — pitch a different filibuster approach than that of the late Lindsey Graham.
As chair of the Senate Budget Committee, the late senator previously said requiring talking filibusters would “change the Senate” and likely lead to the abolition of the filibuster entirely.
“Filibuster changes, I think, change the Senate. It may happen one day, but I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said earlier this year.
Fry, Norman trade jabs with Lynch
Outside of Fry’s apparent jabs at her experience, Darline Graham largely avoided attacks from her Senate rivals — but they traded barbs with each other as they struggled to stand out with a week to go before the special primary.
Asked whether there was any daylight between himself and his fellow candidates on immigration, Lynch called out the “career politicians” on stage.
“Mr. Fry was obviously for mass amnesty by endorsing Lindsey Graham, and Mr. Norman voted on an Allies Act that brought 8,000 illegal Afghans into our country,” Lynch claimed
Fry replied, “I don’t really know what he’s talking about with mass amnesty, quite frankly.”
“I support Lindsey Graham in the first primary because he stood with President Trump with the Trump agenda,” he said, claiming as a counter that Lynch “wants to legalizing illicit drugs in our communities.”
Norman called Lynch’s claims on immigration “silly season.”
“Mr. Lynch, I have no idea what you’re talking about. To say that I support illegal immigration and voted on bills-that’s just not true.”
Lynch later used a question on Medicare as a vehicle to rebut Fry’s jab.
“There’s no way, no way, that I’m for legalizing marijuana and cocaine that came from the Lindsey Graham camp back then. That was an attack. It was lies. That’s how they do these things because I’m a serious candidate and they tried to push me down,” Lynch said.
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