Candidates endorsed by President Trump won Republican primary runoff elections in South Carolina and Oklahoma on Tuesday. In South Carolina, Sen. Darline Graham defeated Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate. In Oklahoma, former state Sen. Mike Mazzei defeated Attorney General Gentner Drummond in the GOP runoff for governor.
The results follow a series of primary contests where some of Trump’s preferred candidates for gubernatorial and House seats were unsuccessful. Graham, who was appointed to fill the seat previously held by her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), won by approximately 5 percentage points. Mazzei won by a margin of roughly half a percentage point.
In Oklahoma's Democratic primaries, N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, a nurse and democratic socialist, secured the nomination for U.S. Senate after defeating Jim Priest. Additionally, in Georgia, former school board chair Everton Blair defeated Marcye Scott in a special election runoff to serve the remainder of the late Rep. David Scott’s (D-GA) term.
The scale of political investment in these races was substantial. In South Carolina alone, the MAGA Inc. super PAC spent $827,000 to support Graham, representing the group's largest expenditure of the current election cycle. For residents, these results determine the specific names that will appear on the general election ballot in November. In Georgia’s 13th district, the special election victory means Everton Blair will fill a vacant seat immediately, shifting the House minority from 212 to 214 members and providing representation for a district that has been vacant since April.
The win for democratic socialist N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas in Oklahoma reflects a broader internal shift within the Democratic party. According to CBS/YouGov polling cited in the report, one-third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists. While Thomas faces a Republican-leaning electorate in November, her victory mirrors recent progressive wins in Florida and Michigan. The next phase for all winners is the general election on November 3, 2026, while the newly elected Georgia and California representatives are expected to be sworn in following the House's return from recess on August 31.