I was wrong about quite a few things in this year's midterms. One call, however, I got totally right, and I take zero satisfaction in it, because it cost Republicans a Senate seat. This loss did not need to happen. The warning signs flashed for months, and the party ignored every one.
Decision Desk HQ called South Carolina's Senate race for Annie Andrew (D-S.C.) just before 10 p.m. ET, ending the short Senate career of Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.). Graham was the wrong candidate for the GOP from day one. Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her to the seat after her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, died unexpectedly, and she went from private citizen to United States senator virtually overnight. Having her fill the vacancy wasn’t the greatest idea, but, fine, whatever. I was only slightly okay with it when I was under the impression that she’d only be serving out the remainder of her brother’s term. She had no background in politics and showed little interest in public policy before that. And then, for some reason, President Donald Trump endorsed her to run for a full term.
Her inexperience became the defining weakness of her campaign.
As much as I support President Donald Trump and his agenda, this was a mistake. I hoped maybe she would prove herself a capable candidate, but she never did.
Graham spent the campaign leaning on her brother's legacy instead of making the case for herself, and it showed. Her own campaign website says, "Darline Graham didn't seek this job. She answered the call when her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, passed away suddenly."
Sorry, but answering a call from President Trump doesn't qualify someone to be a U.S. Senator.
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Then came her debate against Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), which was a disaster from start to finish, the kind of performance that usually sinks a candidate for good. The worst moment arrived when moderators asked whether the U.S. has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea.
"I'm just going to be honest here — I'm not on national security. I'm not that informed on national security, but I do support the military," Graham said.
A moment later, she added, "National security is not my thing."
Wrong answer.
“She's running for the United States Senate. It's a six-year term. You need to get, you need to get fully versed in what issues you're going to be dealing with. This isn't a trained, you know, getting trained on the job," Norman said in response.
And yet she won the runoff.
Why did she win? Because Trump's name is worth more to GOP primary voters than any debate performance, any résumé, or any argument about qualifications. The irony is that Republicans preach meritocracy, yet they nominated a candidate who gave them no real evidence she'd earned the job, simply because Trump asked them to.
And it just got worse from there.
Make no mistake about it, this was President Trump's mistake, an unforced error that should never have happened. He wanted Graham because he expected total loyalty from her, and it backfired spectacularly. Alan Wilson, the Republican nominee for governor, won easily on the same ballot. There's no doubt in my mind that Norman would have won this race easily, too. Trump should have stayed out and let primary voters decide without putting his thumb on the scales.
Losing sucks, but losing winnable races for stupid reasons somehow makes it worse. This wasn’t a race the GOP should have lost.
