Fresh off the losses of three candidates he endorsed in Republican primaries, President Donald Trump faces a much higher-profile test of his political power in South Carolina.
Trump is set to hold a rally Friday night in Myrtle Beach with Sen. Darline Graham, whom he endorsed for her late brother’s Senate seat and whose campaign was shaken by a recent debate when she couldn’t answer a question about Taiwan and the South China Sea because she was “not that informed about national security.”
Both Trump and Graham are at a crucial moment. Some stalwart supporters of the president are openly rejecting his pick in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff, despite a strong effort by the White House that included Trump calling old rivals to push them to endorse her.
A defeat in South Carolina would further call into question the second-term president’s ability to keep his party ranks in line.
“The entire world is laughing at South Carolina right now and laughing at Darline Graham Nordone,” said former state Rep. Adam Morgan, who is supporting her opponent Rep. Ralph Norman. He used the full name for Graham that some of her critics like to invoke to distinguish her from Sen. Lindsey Graham. Morgan added that Darline Graham’s debate flub had to be a “serious gut check” for Trump and his political team.
