Rep. Ralph Norman announced on Saturday his plan to run in the special primary election to fill former South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s vacant seat, becoming the first major candidate to enter the race.
Graham’s death on July 11 immediately spurred interest among conservatives, including Norman, in securing the GOP nomination in South Carolina Republicans’ first contested open-seat Senate primary in over two decades.
“I’m running for the United States Senate because our country is at a crossroads,” Norman said in a message posted to his campaign’s website Saturday. “President Trump needs proven conservative fighters standing with him — not politicians who fold when the pressure comes. Washington doesn’t need more talkers. It needs people who will do exactly what they told the voters they’d do.”
By state law, candidates have from July 21 to July 28 to register their campaigns. Whoever wins the special election on Aug. 11 will face Democrat Annie Andrews in the fall.
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The day before he announced his plans, Norman received nods of support from other lawmakers, including Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida.
But complicating Norman and other future contenders’ plans is Trump’s early backing of Graham’s sister, Sen. Darline Graham, to run for a full term. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to serve the remainder of her brother’s term days after his death, making her the first woman Senator in state history.
She has not formally filed to run in the special election.
Norman told Fox News on Saturday that Trump’s endorsement of Darline Graham did not deter his plans.
“I’m in this to win,” he said.
Norman said on social media that, if elected, he’d vote to pass the SAVE America Act, Trump’s priority elections bill. The president also said Lindsey Graham advocated for the bill prior to his passing.
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