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Myrtle Beach, South Carolina—Modern political debates are often an elaborate subgenre of theater. Candidates have lines to deliver and go out of their way to do so, regardless of what question is asked or what their opponent says. Meanwhile, only the most civically engaged or politically deranged voters watch, as the debates are less arguments than opportunities for b-roll for campaign ads or clips for social media.
The debate last week in South Carolina’s Senate runoff was something else entirely.
Darline Graham, the appointed incumbent to the seat that opened up after the death of her brother, Lindsey Graham, was asked a straightforward question: “Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States, and, if so, why?”
Her response was jaw-dropping. “I just want to be honest here. I’m not on national security,” she replied. “I’m not that informed on national security.” Then, after a pause, she added an inspired riff: “But I do support the military.” Graham went on to note that both her late brother and father served before reiterating: “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise.”
This answer may not only prove fatal to her newborn political career. It could also further accelerate President Donald Trump’s shift into lame-duck status within the Republican Party.
Trump’s endorsements in Republican primaries have long been uniquely robust. Although his record has been juiced by his propensity to back even candidates running unopposed, he has had the ability to bend GOP primary voters to his will—even during the nadir of his authority within the party, in 2022. At his peak, he could intimidate established incumbents into retiring. But, as the 2028 presidential election approaches, Trump’s influence will be tested. He still may be beloved by the Republican base, but as his days left in office dwindle, can he still call the shots? And when the time comes, will his endorsement still be all-powerful when the party’s voters pick his successor?
This is even more important in South Carolina, a state that has long occupied a crucial place on the Republican primary calendar, for which a win is vital to securing the party’s nomination in 2028.
Graham was never going to have an easy time running for Senate under any circumstances. Senate seats in South Carolina become open with the approximate frequency of a total solar eclipse. It’s an opportunity every ambitious politician dreams of. And, by all accounts, Graham was neither ambitious nor a politician until her brother’s sudden death in July. Initially viewed as a placeholder when appointed to fill the seat, Graham quickly became the anointed candidate of Trump and Senate leadership and announced she would seek the full six-year team.
But as a political neophyte, she appears to have had little time to consider some of the major questions she’ll be asked to address as a senator—a deficiency that was just as glaring when she took questions from reporters outside Charleston as it was on the debate stage.
Graham has taken a hard line on immigration since entering politics, stating that she was further to the right than her late brother in an attempt to appeal to the MAGA base: “I loved my brother Lindsey, and I miss him so much every day. But on illegal immigration, I’m tougher than he was. It’s simple. If you are here illegally, you’ve got to go,” she told a cheering crowd.
Slate asked whether her belief that all immigrants who lack permanent status should be deported extends to those covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides some deportation protections for children brought to the U.S. at a young age. Graham answered: “Well, when it comes to birthright citizenship, that’s what I want to talk about. I think it’s a shame that people are coming here to have children just to earn citizenship.”
Asked as a follow-up if she had any thoughts at all on DACA, Graham said, “Not right now.”
That was more than she shared when asked if she agreed with her brother’s vote to certify the 2020 election. As she was gathering her thoughts, Sen. Tim Scott jumped in to say: “I think it’d be helpful for us to talk about the issues of tomorrow and not yesterday.”
Graham seemed to silently agree.
Her remarkable lack of experience may help explain why Graham didn’t scare anyone out of the race when she announced her plan to keep the seat. The frenzied field included Rep. Ralph Norman, a Freedom Caucus stalwart who just lost a race for governor; Rep. Russell Fry, a MAGA ally; and former Gov. Mark Sanford, a quirky fiscal conservative with a salacious personal history.
In the first round of voting, which occurred two weeks before Tuesday’s runoff, Graham finished first, with just under 33 percent of the vote. Norman was second, with almost 25 percent. Fry and Sanford followed. But since no one got the majority necessary to avoid a runoff, voters are returning to the polls this week to pick a winner.
That election has turned into an epic battle, pitting Trump and much of the traditional establishment against the party’s conservative grassroots. It has also become a key test of the power of the president’s endorsement at a time when its value has eroded. Trump backed the state’s lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette, in the gubernatorial primary in June. After an unconvincing showing in the first round, he eventually endorsed both Evette and her opponent in the runoff, which Evette lost by a 2-to-1 margin.
Even outside the Palmetto State, three different Trump-endorsed candidates lost just a week ago (two in Florida congressional races, and one in Wyoming’s gubernatorial race). The president’s endorsement still matters, but it’s clearly no longer a magic bullet.
Trump tested the strength of that endorsement at a rare campaign rally in Myrtle Beach on Friday, a last-ditch effort to boost turnout for Graham. The rally was held in Myrtle Beach because the area features a trove of up-for-grabs votes in the runoff. In the first round of voting, Fry, who represents the area—and not Graham or Norman—won the region handily. In Horry County, of which Myrtle Beach is the largest city, the population has skyrocketed in recent decades. It’s fueled by transplants, many of whom are conservative from more northern states. The accents there are as apt to hail from the South Shore of Long Island as from South Carolina. It’s a part of the state where voters aren’t likely to have supported Lindsey Graham for decades as a pillar of the traditional GOP; it’s also a part of the state where they aren’t likely to have scorned him for decades as a pillar of the traditional GOP. Instead, it’s a part of the state where they know him as that guy who likes Trump from cable news.
Trump never mentioned Norman at all. (In fact, Darline Graham was the only speaker at the entire rally to mention her opponent by name). Instead, the president made his appeal entirely about himself while contrasting Graham not against her primary opponent but against the Democrats.
He noted the long-documented phenomenon that his supporters frequently fail to vote in nonpresidential elections. “And the problem that we have is, they say that Trump does great when he’s on the ballot, but when he’s not on the ballot, his people don’t come and they don’t vote for senators, congressmen, and other Republicans,” he said. “So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot. Just come and vote. It’s so important. So just say that I’m on the ballot one more time—you’ve got to say it. And you’ve got to come out and vote. Because if we lose, you’re going to lose your border. You’re going to lose your tax cuts.”
He also tried to subtly rebut concerns among those who had watched the debate and were appalled by Graham’s gaffe. Trump touted his endorsed candidate to the wary in the audi