Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) declined to state on Monday whether she would have voted to certify the 2020 presidential election results. The comments came during an interview with MS NOW’s Mychael Schnell ahead of a Republican Senate runoff election in South Carolina scheduled for Tuesday.
Graham was appointed to the Senate to complete the term of her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who died last month following a brief illness. Following a meeting in the Oval Office in July, former President Trump endorsed Darline Graham for a full term, describing her as a person who shares her brother's love for the country.
When asked if she would have affirmed the 2020 victory of former President Biden, Graham stated that she believes the election system is "broken." She cited this belief as her reason for supporting the SAVE America Act and expressed her desire to have remained in session during the recess to advance that legislation.
The senator's opponent in the Tuesday runoff, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), criticized Graham on Monday following a recent debate where she stated she was "not that informed on national security" regarding Taiwan and the South China Sea. Norman told Fox Business that foreign policy is a top priority for his campaign. Graham defended her debate performance in a separate interview with Fox News, noting that she is not a "career politician."
In terms of scale, the decision rests with the hundreds of thousands of Republican primary participants in South Carolina. For these residents, the result determines which legislative priorities—such as the SAVE America Act mentioned by Graham or the national security focus emphasized by Norman—will be represented in the U.S. Senate. A resident would notice the impact through their representation in federal votes on election laws, foreign policy, and national debt, which currently stands at $40 trillion according to statements cited in the report.
The runoff serves as a test of former President Trump's endorsement power in South Carolina following the death of a long-serving senator. The winner will be determined by the vote count on Tuesday, and the final seat will be decided during the general election in November 2026. Any changes to election administration or national security policy resulting from this race would depend on the winner's subsequent legislative actions if they prevail in the fall.
What happens next: The runoff election takes place on Tuesday, August 25. The candidate who secures a majority will become the Republican nominee for the general election in November. The SAVE America Act remains a central point of Graham's platform as she seeks to secure the nomination.