They came to see Trump, but will Upstate South Carolina Republicans vote for Darline Graham?

Joseph Bustos and Lucy Valeski, The State (Columbia, S.C.) on Oct 21, 2026

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PENDLETON, S.C. — In the competitive race for U.S. Senate in South Carolina, U.S. Sen. Darline Graham is fighting to convince those GOP voters who are not enthusiastic about her to check the box next to her name on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Polling has shown the race between Graham and Dr. Annie Andrews is tighter than what is expected in the reliably Republican state.

So on Wednesday, President Donald Trump traveled to South Carolina’s Upstate to rally support for Graham, whom he supported to run for the full six-year term after she was appointed to finish her late brother’s term.

“You have to go vote for Darline Graham, she’s you, she’s solid,” Trump told the crowd toward the beginning of his speech.

The Upstate is considered a Republican stronghold in South Carolina. However, support for Graham was weakest in counties there during the Republican special primary and subsequent runoff in August. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman carried the Upstate in the runoff, including Anderson and Pickens counties in the special August runoff.

Some GOP voters remain unsure about Graham, and social media users have been vocal about writing in Norman for U.S. Senate in the general election.

Others said they were excited to support the entire slate of Republican candidates, including Graham.

Donna Baucom, 72, a retired special education teacher who lives in Fair Play, voted for Darline Graham during the special primary because she was in proximity to her brother Lindsey Graham.

“She’s got to know some of the politics. She’s got to know some of these people. She’s got to have better credentials than a lot of people that were running,” Baucom said.

“I think she’s really down-to-earth honest,” Baucom added.

Norman said in a radio interview with “The Nashional Briefing with Kelly Nash” Wednesday he would vote for Graham, but he said there is a “real concern with the way this thing came down” among some of his own supporters. That includes his own family.

“My family is not going to vote for Darline Graham. They’re just not,” Norman said. He also said he wouldn’t campaign with the junior senator.

He also repeated concerns about Trump’s involvement in the special primary, which Norman lost by about five percentage points to Graham.

“What he did to South Carolina, to try to force South Carolinians to vote for a candidate and hire for six years, it’s just not right,” Norman said.

“We’ve got a candidate nobody knows anything about,” he continued.

Republican Party leaders have feared that enough write-in votes for Norman, a U.S. House Freedom Caucus member, and votes for third party candidates would take away support from Graham and lead to Andrews’ success.

Cody Simpson, the Republican nominee for commissioner of agriculture, told attendees “friends don’t let friends vote third party.”

Attendees to Trump’s rally were excited to see the president, some wearing Trump 2028 hats even though he cannot run for president in 2028. When Graham arrived at the rally just after 4:30 p.m., a crowd of attendees shook her hand and tried to take pictures of and with the senator.

Several people appeared lukewarm to voting for Graham but would support her because the president is endorsing her.

Don and Rita Ryerson were among those who attended Wednesday’s rally.

“It’s a once in a lifetime to see the president and support his agenda,” Don Ryerson said.

Don Ryerson said they will vote for Darline Graham when asked if he liked her. The Ryersons backed Norman in the special Republican Senate primary.

“He has been a staunch conservative. We like what he stands for, Christian values, and we just feel like he’s got the experience that would have made him a great senator,” Don Ryerson said.

But they think the “write-in Ralph” movement is a flawed idea.

Rory Smith, of Clemson, is a retired nuclear plant supervisor. He supported Mark Sanford in the primary and Graham in the subsequent runoff.

“I can tell you this: I will not vote for anything Democrat,” Smith said.

“I think she has the same values of her brother. I don’t know a great deal about her, but I know a great deal about the Democrats. That’s what I know,” Smith said when asked about whether he will vote for Darline Graham.

He added people haven’t had a lot of time to get to know Darline Graham.

“I promise you this, what I know about Donald Trump is he’s evaluated (her) and he knows her and if he supports her, then that’s all I need,” Smith said.

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