PENDLETON, S.C. — South Carolina is so reliably Republican that presidents of either party don’t hold midterm rallies here. But Donald Trump is doing just that on Wednesday in a state he won two years ago by 18 percentage points.
Trump’s need to mobilize his base to the polls isn’t just a function of the party in power’s typical midterm struggles due to Trump’s unpopularity. Sen. Darline Graham, the sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham, is fighting to win over Republicans skeptical of her after a bitter primary election as she seeks a full, six-year term.
Polls have shown Graham with only a narrow lead over Democratic challenger Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who has significantly outraised the incumbent. Graham, who has only been a senator and candidate for three months, has struggled to raise money quickly, entered October with $610,000 on hand, compared to Andrews’s $2.3 million, the latest filings show.
Graham’s weak showing in polls isn’t merely a sign of Andrews’s strength as a candidate. Graham has struggled to win over factions of the Republican base in South Carolina, some of whom disapproved of her brother when he was in office. Polls have shown Graham running behind the Republican nominee for governor, Attorney General Alan Wilson, suggesting she has yet to consolidate Republican support.
“To be honest, I never was a big fan of Lindsey Graham,” said Elizabeth Smith, 64, of Seneca. “I didn’t feel he was MAGA enough.”
Smith voted for Darline Graham’s opponent, GOP Rep. Ralph Norman, in the primary election, but said she will support Graham in the general election.
“I don’t know a lot about her,” Smith said while waiting for Trump in a seat set up on the dirt-floor rodeo hall near Clemson University, a deeply Republican area of the state.
Fearing a primary loss against Norman, Trump also came to the state in August to rally on Graham’s behalf in the primary runoff election. Some Norman supporters, angry that Trump put his finger on the scale, have publicly pledged to write in his name on the ballot.
Ahead of Trump’s rally on Wednesday, Norman told South Carolina radio host Kelly Nash that he would vote for Graham, upholding the pledge he made as a candidate to support the nominee, but said his family won’t vote for her.
Norman said he declined a request to campaign with Graham.
“My message is vote your conscience, and let the chips fall where they may,” Norman said, declining to urge other Republicans to support Graham. “This race shouldn’t even be close, and it wouldn’t be if I were in the race.”
Andrews’s too-close-for-comfort position in the race has drawn outside Republican groups’ financial support as Election Day nears. Senate Republicans’ top aligned super PAC is spending $8.5 million in ads for the race, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact, among other outside groups boosting Graham.
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