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.
