Graham wins Republican Senate runoff as Norman carries Laurens County

Sen. Darline Graham won the Republican nomination for South Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, defeating U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman in a special primary runoff even as Norman posted a comfortable win in Laurens County.

Unofficial statewide returns showed Graham with 193,396 votes, or about 52.5%, to 175,327 votes, or about 47.5%, for Norman. The Associated Press called the race shortly before 9 p.m.

Laurens County voters went the other way by a wide margin. Norman took 58.63% of the county’s vote to 41.37% for Graham, a gap of more than 17 points. He also led the county in the Aug. 11 special primary, finishing first in a 10-candidate field with 1,864 votes, or 34.3%, while Graham drew 1,533 votes, or 28.2%.

Norman’s strength in Laurens County was part of a broader Upstate pattern. The Rock Hill congressman ran best in the Piedmont and Upstate regions, including Greenville County, the state’s most populous, while Graham built her margin in central South Carolina, the Midlands and the Lowcountry.

The runoff drew roughly 368,700 ballots statewide, more than the estimated 336,000 cast in the Aug. 11 special primary. Under state law, a runoff is required when no candidate clears 50% in the first round. Graham led that field with about 33% to Norman’s 25%, with U.S. Rep. Russell Fry third at about 20%. Fry endorsed Graham after the primary.

The compressed election calendar followed the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 11 from an aortic tear. He had won the June 9 Republican primary for a fifth term, and his death left both his Senate seat and the party’s spot on the November ballot vacant. Gov. Henry McMaster appointed his sister, Darline Graham, to serve the remainder of the current term, which expires in January, making her the first woman to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. She then entered the special primary at the urging of President Donald Trump, who endorsed her early, held a rally with her in Myrtle Beach on Friday and campaigned for her through the runoff. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott also backed her.

Norman has represented South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District since 2017 and is serving his fifth term. He is a 1975 graduate of Presbyterian College in Clinton. The Senate bid was his second statewide campaign this year, following a third-place finish in the Republican primary for governor, and it put his name on the ballot three times in a single year.

Speaking to supporters in Rock Hill on Tuesday night, Norman said he had done everything he could to win the race and that he accepted the outcome, adding that he regretted the result for the state more than for himself. He thanked his family and campaign staff. Asked about the president’s involvement, he said Trump was within his rights to endorse whomever he chose, though he said he never understood why Trump entered the race.

Graham addressed supporters at an election night event in Columbia, remembering her brother and thanking Trump for his support.

Graham will face Democratic nominee Dr. Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician who ran against U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in the 1st Congressional District in 2022, in the Nov. 3 general election.