The Republican representative Ralph Norman, of South Carolina, has announced he will join the race to succeed the late senator Lindsey Graham, despite Donald Trump backing Graham’s sister, Darline, should she choose to run.
Announcing the launch of his bid on Saturday, Norman wrote on X: “I’m running to represent the people of South Carolina in the US Senate because we need a fighter who will stand with President Trump and carry on Lindsey Graham’s legacy!”
He pointedly added: “I’ve spent years fighting for the Palmetto State in the state house, in Congress, and now I want to get the SAVE America Act passed in the Senate!”
Further cementing Trump’s restrictive voting bill – which the president has deemed his legislative priority – and efforts to eliminate the filibuster as central to his campaign, Norman told Fox host Kayleigh McEnany on Saturday: “I’ll be throwing my hat into the ring … Day one, Kayleigh, I will be laser-focused on passing President Trump’s ‘America first’ [agenda]. And it starts with the Save America Act. We’ll nuke the filibuster. And I will be … a vocal vote and a supporter to make this happen.”
But his announcement comes after Trump already said on Friday that he had asked Darline Graham to run for the position in a special GOP primary on 11 August. A runoff will be held on 25 August, if necessary. The winner of the GOP nomination will face off against Democrat Annie Andrews in the November midterms.
“Darline, who comes from an absolutely incredible family, has been a WINNER all of her life and, should she accept, has my Complete and Total Endorsement in the Special Election for U.S. Senate in South Carolina – SHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “RUN, DARLINE, RUN!”
Norman told CNN he had unsuccessfully sought Trump’s support, but added that the president’s decision to endorse Darline Graham did not deter him from entering the race.
“I wanted [Trump’s] blessing to run and get his support. He decided to go with Darline, who’s a nice person, and he decided to go with her. And so I respect that,” Norman said. “But it doesn’t deter my plans. I’m in this to win.”
The Florida senator Rick Scott and the Utah senator Mike Lee endorsed Norman’s bid for the Senate on Friday, before he made his run official.
At Trump’s direction, Darline Graham, 62, was tapped by South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, and then sworn in on Tuesday to fill her late brother’s Senate seat on an interim basis, only three days after his death. It marked the first time a sibling has replaced a senator who died in office, and the first woman who has represented South Carolina in the Senate.
Lindsey Graham died on the evening of 11 July, aged 71, after what his office called a “brief and sudden illness”. The chief medical examiner then preliminarily ruled on Sunday that he died of aortic dissection due to cardiovascular disease.
His sudden death set off a scramble of Republicans angling to run for a seat he had held since 2003. With Trump’s backing, Darline Graham was swiftly appointed to serve the remaining months of his Senate term, which ends on 3 January.
She has since reportedly expressed an interest in running for the full six-year Senate term but has yet to announce an official campaign.
Candidates can formally file to run for the seat next week. Businessman Mark Lynch, who unsuccessfully challenged Lindsey Graham for the nomination in June, and lawyer Duke Buckner have also thrown their hats in the ring so far. The GOP representative Nancy Mace is also potentially eyeing a bid.
Norman, 73, a prominent member of the House freedom caucus, ran unsuccessfully for governor of South Carolina earlier this year, as did Mace.
He is a lifelong resident of Rock Hill, with a career outside of politics in commercial real estate development. Norman was elected to represent South Carolina’s fifth congressional district in 2017, having previously spent 11 years in the state’s house of representatives. He did not back Trump in the 2024 election.
