South Carolina Republicans can vote in a special primary Tuesday Aug. 11 to select the party’s nominee to fill the void created by the unexpected death of incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham last month at age 71.
The winner of the Aug. 11 primary, or if necessary, Aug. 25 runoff, will be the Republican Party’s nominee in the November election for a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate.
Sen. Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, a former commissioner with the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, was appointed July 13 to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term, which ends in early January.
Darline Graham’s appointment by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R), makes her South Carolina’s first female senator.
Should Ms. Graham prevail in the upcoming GOP primary, she would face Democratic Party nominee Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician from Charleston, S.C.
In the special primary, Darline Graham will face four competitors, according to the Ballotpedia website.
Three are seasoned political veterans and two of those are current members of Congress: Rep. Russell Fry, who represents the 7th District; Rep. Ralph Norman, who represents the 5th district. Mark Sanford, a former governor and former House of Representatives member for the 1st District, is also in the running.
Rounding out the GOP primary field is businessman Mark Lynch. Lynch ran unsuccessfully against Lindsey Graham in the June 9 primary, gaining 29% of the vote, or roughly half of the incumbent’s total.
The late Sen. Graham was a big supporter of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C.