By 8:50 PM Decision Desk HQ called the South Carolina U.S. Senate special election primary. Sen. Darline Graham came in first with 32.8% of the vote. However, since she didn’t win 50% plus one vote, she faces second-place finisher Rep. Ralph Norman in a runoff on Aug. 25.
Norman stepped up to the podium at 9 PM to thank his supporters. “Looks like we did it, folks!” he said to cheers. Norman struck a conciliatory tone in his remarks. “I want to thank the ones who were in this race, who had the courage to put their name on the dotted line,” he said. “This is a time to come together, to all coalesce, because we’ve got some socialist democrats we’ve got to beat.”
Norman mentioned Sen. Graham only to congratulate her on making the runoff. He encouraged his campaign volunteers and supporters for the next two weeks, saying “we’re gonna hit every part of the state. This is all about faith, family, and freedom.”
Later in the evening, Sen. Graham laid out her agenda for the future term. When she greeted her crowd, she first mentioned memories. “This is a very emotional night,” Graham said. “Because I’m usually standing here, celebrating with Lindsey. I know he’s looking down, smiling on me.”
Graham also thanked President Donald Trump for his endorsement: “His steadfast support, and his complete and total endorsement, mean so much to me.”
Graham gave voters a quick rundown on her accomplishments. “I took a struggling agency and turned it into a national model,” she said, referring to her work as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission of the Blind. Graham pointed out she's "only been on the job three weeks," but she has introduced a bill sanctioning Russia and cast what she called the deciding vote to confirm Todd Blanche, the new attorney general.
In one part of her speech Graham took a swipe at Norman, her runoff opponent. “I’m a conservative Republican,” Graham said. “I’m not a career politician.”
Sen. Graham called President Trump to let him know she’d advanced to the runoff. Trump said he’d campaign for her if asked.
🚨 JUST NOW: President Trump reveals Sen. Darline Graham called him a few minutes ago after she ADVANCED to the GOP primary runoff in South Carolina
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 12, 2026
"She just called me to thank me...she's got good genetics because she's related to Lindsey!"
47 says he'd CAMPAIGN for her if… pic.twitter.com/7fISEHHyG9
Norman, an Upstate native, racked up his highest numbers in that area of South Carolina, a GOP-heavy portion of the state. Rep. Russell Fry won his congressional district, made up of the counties around the Myrtle Beach area up to the North Carolina line.
Outside his watch party, former Gov. Mark Sanford said, “I’ve historically not endorsed in primaries. Out of courtesy I’m trying to call as many candidates as possible to tell them a race well run.” Sanford said he’d continue to focus on raising awareness on the national debt, reminding all that in the “next 100 days, we’ll add a trillion dollars to the national debt, and we’re not talking about that.”
On primary election night, WIS-TV, the NBC affiliate and most popular news station in the Midlands of South Carolina, covered the returns with the help of a panel of analysts.
The panel agreed that the next two weeks of the runoff would be much rougher than what came before. “Politics is a conflict sport; she‘s going to experience contact,” strategist Antjuan Seawright said about newcomer Graham. When moderator Judi Gatson mentioned the grace that everyone had extended Graham, who buried her brother Lindsey Graham only two weeks ago, one analyst replied that was “thrown out the window” for the runoff. “There’ve been two senators in this seat for 71 years,” said former S.C. Sen. Joel Lourie. “The gloves are coming off.”
Lourie stated his belief that Graham’s vote percentage on Aug. 11 “needed to be in the high 30s. This is a danger zone for her. I think high 30s, low 40s would have sealed the deal for her.
Lourie spoke for all on the panel when he concluded: “I think we're in for a pretty dramatic two weeks.”
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