Not everyone at President Donald Trump’s South Carolina rally on Wednesday night was sold on the candidate he came to promote.
Trump went to Pendleton to boost Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to her late brother Sen. Lindsey Graham’s seat after his sudden death in July, and doubts among MAGA voters has turned a once-safe Republican seat into an unexpectedly close race against Democrat Annie Andrews, reported MS NOW.
“I don’t know anything about her, so that’s a concern,” said Rachel, a 45-year-old stay-at-home mom from Walhalla. “I’m interested to see where she stands.”
Several rallygoers told the network they still knew little about Graham, while Rachel and others were also uneasy about a family member inheriting the seat. Rachel said she was “a little hesitant about family members taking over,” adding, “we’re not a royalty.”
Mark Sanford, a 63-year-old landscaper from Spartanburg who shares a name with the GOP former governor, voted for Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) in the primary. He now backs Graham, though without much enthusiasm, saying he’d expected her to step aside once her brother’s term ran out.
“We just don’t know nothing about her,” Sanford said, “and she was put in a spot and we thought she was just gonna hold the position. So then we worried about, does she know what she’s getting into?”
His biggest reservation, he said, was Graham “just being fresh and her not really knowing what’s going on.”
Willene Allen, a 73-year-old retiree from Taylors, offered only lukewarm support. “She’s fine,” Allen said. “Trump supports her. I support her.”
Graham had never held elected office before her appointment. She stumbled in an August GOP runoff debate when she admitted she wasn’t “that informed on national security,” and since then she has pointed to a Russia and Iran sanctions bill, inherited from her brother, as proof she can deliver.
But this week Trump signed an executive order exempting Russia from those sanctions. Graham said she disagreed with the move, but Trump later told reporters she thought he “did the right thing.” She didn’t mention the bill at Wednesday’s rally.
The rally was also repeatedly interrupted by protests, and security removed at least 11 protesters. After an attendee appeared to punch a protester directly in front of him, Trump said, “Wow, thank you, that was great, man.”
This was Trump’s second rally for Graham, and he urged the crowd to treat the race as a vote on him.
“When I’m on the ballot, you go vote. When I’m not, you tend not to,” the president said. “But I really am on the ballot because we did so many things.”
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