GREENVILLE, S.C.—The special Republican primary election to replace the late Lindsey Graham as South Carolina’s Senate nominee has narrowed.
The winner of the Republican contest faces the Democratic nominee, Dr. Annie Andrews, in November.
The current senator, a newcomer to electoral politics, replaced her brother in the upper chamber with the support of President Donald Trump, who has also endorsed her campaign for the nomination.
Fry entered the race after Trump suggested during a Newsmax interview that the congressman entering that race “could happen.” He said Fry was “a very, very talented person.”
Norman, who endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley against Trump in 2024, has been backed by figures aligned with the conservative Freedom Caucus.
In addition to Darline Graham, Norman, and Fry, the hopefuls included former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, businessman Mark Lynch, farmer Danny Lee Ford, retiree Glenda Gail Parker, engineer and scientist Samuel Shepherd, lawyer Duke Buckner, and former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride.
Polling ahead of the race did not show a clear frontrunner, though Darline Graham, Norman, and Fry have generally traded the top three spots.
The race quickly attracted big money and attention.
Backers of Fry and Darline Graham dominated ad spending in the race, with $1.5 million and $1.4 million in support, respectively, according to an Aug. 7 analysis from AdImpact. Sanford followed with $866,000, while Lynch and Norman fell third and fourth, garnering $233,000 and $231,000 in that spending, respectively.
Darline Graham also received support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a key hub for GOP fundraising.
Recent campaign finance reports show that her campaign quickly raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Sanford and Lynch campaigns led Fry and Norman when it came to cash on hand. While the former governor and businessman had roughly $1.3 million and $547,000 as of late July, at that same period, the two members of Congress had about $485,000 and $171,000, respectively.
Final Hours, Final Pitches
From Greenville to Rock Hill, polling places across northern South Carolina appeared sleepy much of Aug. 11.
South Carolinians there and elsewhere in the state were reluctant to stop and talk about the race.
One reason may have been the high humidity and blazing heat. A digital sign outside the First Baptist North Spartanburg read more than 96 degrees Fahrenheit.
Outside that Spartanburg polling place, Chuck Robbins told The Epoch Times his top issues were border security and “economics overall,” including affordability.
While many candidates have pledged to tackle those concerns, Sanford was the man who earned his vote.
“I just don’t think she has the experience that we need,” he said of Darline Graham, adding that he liked the job her late brother had done in Washington.
South Carolinians had a chance to compare Sanford and other leading hopefuls during an early August debate. In the days ahead of Election Day, multiple candidates made their pitches to voters in interviews with The Epoch Times.
Norman told The Epoch Times and others on Aug. 10 that he would work with Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) to force a talking filibuster to advance the SAVE America Act, election integrity legislation that would boost citizenship verification requirements for voter registration and require photo ID to vote.
The real estate developer and fiscal conservative, known for forcing intra-Republican debates on the cost of party-line bills, warned of the scope of the national debt, describing it as “the cancer that’s killing us.”
Norman also drew attention to the threat from the Chinese Communist Party, noting that he had worked to close Chinese-affiliated Confucius Institutes in the United States.
“How long are we going to be stooges?” he asked.
In Greenville, the home to his family’s longstanding appliance store and showroom, Lynch stressed his business background.
“I have a servant’s heart. We’ve served customers every day, and we’ve got a great reputation here,” Lynch told The Epoch Times.
He’s concerned about the spread of Islam in South Carolina, voicing opposition to the small, all-Muslim community of Holy Islamville, located in York County.
That view and others, including his concern with the impact of illegal aliens on the economy, are part of why he wants the United States to end the Iran War.
“We’ve got problems here at home,” he said.
Shepherd, in an email interview with The Epoch Times, also emphasized his private sector experience—in his case, as a biomedical engineer.
“I bring the same engineering mindset to the Senate: Identify the root problem, cut waste, measure outcomes, and fix what is broken,” he said.
Like Norman, he warned of the scale of the U.S. debt, vowing to oppose any bill that raises the deficit.
He also said he would seek to safeguard Medicare and Social Security, two large programs that are widely used by Americans but also help to drive the growth of the national debt.