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A powerful name and an endorsement from President Donald Trump proved more than enough to score an unlikely candidate a win in the latest runoff election in South Carolina.
Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., toppled Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., in a whirlwind race to replace her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, as the GOP nominee for the Senate after his sudden death in July.
Just a little over a month after his death at 71 years old, South Carolinians opted to stick with a familiar name in Graham, who despite having little political experience prior to her appointment to finish out the remainder of her brother’s term, scored Trump’s coveted endorsement.
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Though her appointment by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster was viewed as temporary, Trump pushed her to run beyond the five months left in her brother’s term.
“Darline is somebody I’ve known for a long time,” Trump said during a rally for her in Myrtle Beach last week. “I asked her to do this. I said, ‘Darline, you got to do it,’ because everyone loves her. Everyone respects her.”
“So I’ve known her through Lindsey — I’ve known her for so long,” he continued. “I think Lindsey respected Darline more than any other person he knows, including me.”
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And Trump sent in last-minute financial reinforcements to help her, following a gaffe during her final debate with Norman when she admitted that she had little knowledge of the strategic importance of Taiwan.
Graham has styled herself as a much different politician than her brother, focused more on domestic issues than foreign.
Trump’s mammoth, $400 million campaign war chest through MAGA Inc., which has largely been untapped this cycle despite a handful of Senate races shifting in power dynamics across the country, dumped over $800,000 into a phone campaign in support of Graham over the weekend, according to campaign finance records.
While Graham styled herself as a more home front than abroad focused candidate, she made one thing clear through debates and limited campaign time: a vote for her was a vote for the Trump agenda.
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She targeted Norman for bucking House Republican leadership, and, at times, Trump, but noted, “We already have enough problem Democrats, we don’t need a problem Republican.”
And though she’s only been in the Senate for a handful of weeks, Graham argued to voters that she’d done more than Norman had in his entire congressional career, touting the passage of the long-awaited bipartisan Russia sanctions package initially pushed by her brother, but at times slowed by the White House.
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“I was in Washington for only two weeks before I passed the Russia and Iran Sanctions Act through the Senate,” Graham said. “I then passed the deciding vote to confirm President Trump’s attorney general, Todd Blanche.”
“Simply put, I’ve done more in 20 days than Ralph Norman has done in 20 years.”
Despite the bruising battle between Norman and Graham, Norman said he would be throwing his support behind her following his loss Tuesday, and planned to call Graham to say congratulations.
“As I said earlier, I’m going to support the Republican. I’m not supporting a Democrat. So, I will support her – Darline – as best I can,” Norman said during his concession speech Tuesday evening.
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