South Carolina Republicans are stewing about Lindsey Graham’s old Senate seat

(CNN) -- When President Donald Trump helped orchestrate Darline Graham’s appointment to finish Sen. Lindsey Graham’s term, many Republicans in South Carolina saw it as a fitting tribute to her late brother.

But four days later, following Trump’s announcement that he wanted Graham to run for a six-year term, their feelings quickly flipped.

The president’s decision to get behind a political unknown for a breakneck special election process is further testing his clout in South Carolina, a solidly red state where Republicans already this year have roundly rejected his first pick for the governor’s race and his push to redraw the state’s congressional maps. Behind the scenes, some Republicans are stewing as others fret that Trump is setting himself up for failure, once again, in the Palmetto State.

“The issue is that the president continues to get bad advice about South Carolina,” said CJ Westfall, chairman of the Dorchester County GOP. “We certainly empathize with Darline — and even the president, as Lindsey was a really good friend of his — but he’s certainly getting bad advice. We’ve got a lot more exciting options for this seat. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

When speaking privately to candidly discuss the race, GOP heavyweights in the state echo a growing number of social media posts lamenting “coronations” and “monarchies” — complaining that what could have been South Carolina Republicans’ first open Senate primary in more than two decades now features an incumbent with the same surname.

One Republican state lawmaker said it felt like a “backroom deal” that voters wouldn’t like. A county GOP official suggested some voters would see it as “a family Senate seat being passed down.” And another GOP state legislator said there are “definitely hard feelings.”

“This was always going to be a little messy because it’s a warp-speed campaign for a Senate seat,” said the second lawmaker. “And then Trump threw us all a curveball with Darline. That wasn’t expected. It wasn’t exactly welcomed here, either. But it’s the president’s choice. And voters will have their choice.”

However, they are less likely to vent publicly, in part because Graham is grieving the loss of her brother but also due to Trump’s quick endorsement of the political newcomer and his penchant for going after those who openly criticize his strategy.

Allies of Darline Graham are confident that South Carolina Republicans will warm to her now that her brother’s funerals are over and she is more free to campaign. They expect her to pay homage to her brother’s legacy but also show she is her own person and more focused on domestic issues as a working mother of two children.

“I’ve never had any desire to be a politician,” Darline Graham said Saturday during a joint appearance with her competitors in Lexington. “I’m here today because I’m answering President Trump’s call to serve. I want to stand up for South Carolina and I want to fight for President Trump’s agenda.”

Jordan Pace, a state representative who chairs the South Carolina Freedom Caucus and supports Rep. Ralph Norman for the seat, said there’s been a clear backlash to Graham’s candidacy.

“The conservative grassroots, who’s kind of the base of the Republican electorate, instantaneously went against this,” Pace said, suggesting the race is too short — and too important – for pulling punches about Darline Graham. “This is as fast and furious as it gets.”

Asked for comment on this story, the White House referred to Trump’s previous comments on Graham, including the social media post where he endorsed her.

Trump’s endorsement didn’t stop others from running

The impact – or perhaps lack thereof – of Trump’s endorsement can be seen in the crowded nine-person field.

Graham did not deter two major competitors, Reps. Russell Fry and Norman, from challenging her. Others running include businessman Mark Lynch, who challenged Lindsey Graham earlier this year in the primary, and Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina governor and congressman. The August 11 primary is so widely expected to go to a runoff that the state GOP has already scheduled a debate for a week later.

Several GOP operatives told CNN this week they wouldn’t be surprised if this brief Senate primary campaign ended in a dual endorsement like the governor’s race earlier this year. After the Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette was forced into a runoff with Attorney General Alan Wilson, Trump amended his endorsement to include both of them. Wilson ended up beating Evette resoundingly.

Multiple people in Palmetto State politics said they had expected Trump – after Lindsey Graham’s death – to endorse Fry. CNN previously reported the 41-year-old Myrtle Beach-area congressman had been engaged in positive conversations with Trump about running up until the president posted his endorsement of Darline Graham.

Despite losing out on the endorsement, Fry has continued to highlight his good relationship with Trump while campaigning, even noting that Trump endorsed his House re-election campaign a few months back. The strategy feels similar to the way Wilson handled his own campaign, even as Evette had Trump’s endorsement before the runoff.

Graham’s opponents have to walk a tightrope: running against her without risking the appearance of attacking the president or a grieving sister.

The contrasts have been indirect so far. Norman has pitched himself as a “proven conservative.” A Norman campaign spokeswoman, Brittany Yanick, said in a statement that he “will run a positive campaign and focus on highlighting proven America First conservative record.”

Sanford said in an interview he has a “longstanding record of accomplishment on conservative ideals.”

Fry has touted himself as part of a “new generation” of leadership with “fresh energy.” He argues he has a longer record of loyalty to the president.

“When nobody else really in this field was with the president, we were,” Fry said this week in a radio interview, suggesting Trump likes him as much as he does Darline Graham. “He’s very high on me too.”

Now the Republican nominee for governor, Wilson has called for civility and partnered with the state GOP to host “stump stops” across the state to give the candidates a platform to make their case to voters.

Tyson Grinstead, a member of the Republican National Committee from South Carolina, said he thought Trump’s endorsement would carry more weight in the Senate primary than it did in the gubernatorial primary. South Carolina Republicans, he said, understand that being effective in Washington requires a close relationship with the president like what Lindsey Graham had.

“I do think people are willing to look at the field and see who’s in there and make a decision on their own,” Grinstead said.

Darline Graham steps into the spotlight

When Gov. Henry McMaster introduced Graham as his interim appointment to the seat, McMaster himself was not under the impression she would run in the special election, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

But around the time of an Oval Office meeting with Trump, word leaked out that she was interested – and within hours, Trump gave her his blessing. Suddenly, a somber period turned more political, as Republicans raced to learn more about her ahead of a potential full six-year term.

Much of what was already known about her had to do with her close relationship with her brother. Their parents raised them in a room behind a bar they owned in the town of Central, South Carolina. After each parent died 15 months apart in the 1970s, Lindsey Graham was left to raise his younger sister through her teenage years and college.

She went on to hold several state government roles in South Carolina and has been serving as a commissioner of the state’s Commission for the Blind since 2019. Her campaign plans to highlight that experience as part of her commitment to making government more efficient.

Graham inherited her brother’s committee assignments shortly after being sworn in, and she began illuminating her views by cosponsoring dozens of bills. She cosponsored the SAVE America Act, a Trump priority bill that would overhaul federal elections, and later signed on to the Russia sanctions bill that was posthumously named after her brother.

Graham has suggested she will be less concerned with foreign policy than her brother, a well-known supporter of US intervention abroad. Trump told reporters Wednesday he that thought she would be “much more focused” on domestic issues.

Still, many South Carolinians are seeing Graham in an overtly political light for the first time after she spent years behind the scenes helping her brother.

Eaddy Willard, a longtime South Carolina GOP activist, said she has known of Darline Graham as far back as the 1990s, when Willard was working for Sanford, the former congressman and governor who is now running against her.

“Bottom line, just about any election cycle, we saw and got to know Darline,” Willard said.

Willard said it never occurred to her that Graham could enter politics herself because she was always seen as playing a supporting role for her brother. And even if she harbored her own political ambitions, Willard added, she seemed “mindful of etiquette and appropriateness” and would not go out of her way to upstage her brother.

“Overall my sense of Darline has always been that she’s just very grounded,” Willard said. “She seemed comfortable in any situation and not flustered by sometimes the pomp and circumstance that is politics. And I imagine that comes from living through such tragedy, not just of her parents dying but living in poverty and a pretty austere upbringing.”

Kevin Bishop, a former longtime aide to Lindsey Graham, said that upbringing forged a tight relationship between Lindsey and Darline Graham. Lindsey Graham, Bishop said, often played the role of the “overbearing big brother.” Darline Graham came to appreciate that more as an adult, realizing it came from “a place of love,” Bishop said.

“She is distinguished in her own right, and she’s always been a loving sister,” Bishop said. “And I think when people get to know her, they’re going to be really impressed with Darline and just the type of person she is. She’s got a quick wit. She’s very funny. She’s also a sweet Southern lady, but she can push back when she needs to.”

The competition isn’t backing down

Graham entered the race with some significant advantages beyond Trump’s endorsement. While Senate Majority Leader John Thune is staying neutral in the primary, she has the support of three other Senate GOP leaders, according to Semafor: Majority Whip John Barrasso, Conference Chair Tom Cotton and Policy Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito.

Graham is also benefiting from ad spending in coordination with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is chaired by fellow South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. The spending comes as part of Lindsey’s Graham’s leftover campaigns funds that have been transferred to the NRSC, according to a source familiar with the arrangement.

Security is Strength PAC, a super PAC that was supporting Lindsey Graham’s reelection before he died, has already launched a $900,000 advertising campaign for Darline Graham. Its debut ad touts that she has been “endorsed by President Trump to continue Lindsey Graham’s mission.”

Yet her best-known competitors are also off to a strong start, even as Trump reiterates his support for Graham in public appearances. Norman has the backing of Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida, as well as fellow South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace. Fry has been endorsed by 40 state lawmakers and has already raised more than $800,000. And Sanford is being boosted by a super PAC that has already spent over $1 million.

The ads boosting Graham’s rivals don’t mention her. But they put the issue of conservative credibility front and center.

“When you choose your next senator, you shouldn’t have to guess,” Norman said in his first ad. “You should already know.”