GOP Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, left, is vying with Darline Graham, seen at right with President Donald Trump, for the South Carolina U.S. Senate seat left open by Graham’s brother, the late Sen. Lindsay Graham, who died suddenly in July. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images; Win McNamee / Getty Images)
By Joe Saunders August 25, 2026 at 3:34pm
If the last poll before voting is any indication, South Carolina’s GOP Senate primary runoff is going to be a close-run affair.
With Republican voters casting ballots Tuesday, a Trafalgar Group poll released Monday showed incumbent Sen. Darline Graham in what amounts to a dead tie with challenger Rep. Ralph Norman.
The margin of victory could easily be smaller than the poll’s margin of error — whoever wins.
In a Facebook post published Monday, Trafalgar noted that the poll was conducted from Saturday to Monday. It questioned 1,031 respondents with a margin of error of 2.9.
Graham is the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who represented the Palmetto State for four terms in the Senate and was likely cruising to re-election to his fifth when he died suddenly July 11 at his Washington home.
While she was widely considered only a placeholder at first, she decided to seek a full term in her own right at the urging of President Donald Trump.
The power of her family name, combined with Trump’s enthusiastic endorsement, could well be enough to power Graham to victory, but she might have made the race more difficult for herself.
Do you support Darline Graham in this race?
During a Republican runoff primary, Graham essentially took a pass on a question about the importance of Taiwan and China to American national security, demurring that she is “not that informed on national security … But I do support the military.”
For many, it came as a surprising answer from the sister of Lindsey Graham, who made his interest in international affairs a hallmark of his Senate career.
But Darline Graham didn’t back away from her position.
In an interview after the debate, she said she didn’t think her answer would hurt her with voters.
“They’re worried about their pocketbooks more than they’re worried about the South China Sea, quite honestly,” Graham said, according to The Associated Press. “So that’s going to be my biggest focus.”
Norman, however, used the answer to attack Graham’s fitness for the job of a senator — beyond being the younger sister of a man who’d held it for so long.
“By her choice, she’s running for the United States Senate. It’s a six-year term,” Norman said, according to the AP.
“You need to get fully versed in what issues you’re going to be dealing with. This isn’t a get training on the job, you can’t do that.”
Tuesday’s primary results will likely show whether the voters agree with him.
South Carolina polls close at 7 p.m.
The winner between Graham and Norman will face off against Democratic Senate nominee Dr. Annie Andrews in November’s general election.
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Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn’t need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American
