Longtime South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham died in July of this year. At the time of his death, Lindsey Graham was running for reelection to a fifth Senate term as the Republican nominee after winning the June GOP primary with 56.8% of the vote against five other Republican candidates.
GOP Governor Henry McMaster appointed his sister, Darlene Nordone, to temporarily fill her brother's Senate seat. But if she wants to maintain her place in Congress, she'll need to earn it at the ballot box in November.
Despite her poor debate performance against her Republican rivals leading up to the GOP special primary and subsequent runoff in August, Darline Graham—as she's now known—garnered 33% of the Republican vote to defeat her closest competitor's 24%. Now she faces off against her brother's opponent, pediatrician Dr. Annie Andrews, the South Carolina Democratic candidate for Senate.
Unfortunately for Graham, her debate skills haven't improved.
After Graham repeatedly referred to Dr. Andrews as a "socialist," the GOP's latest boogeyman for their MAGA faithful, the Democrat clapped back, saying:
"I told you my opponent was going to call me a socialist, and there she’s done it again. She’s been told to call me ‘Bernie Ocasio Mamdani.’ That’s what’s in her script."
"But the truth is my name is Annie Andrews. There shouldn’t be any confusion about that because, unlike my opponent, I have not changed my name recently."
You can watch the moment here:
When appointed to fill her brother's Senate seat, Graham had been using her current married name, Nordone, as her surname and the alternate spelling of her given name, using Darline instead of her legal name Darlene. Once appointed, she immediately filed to run for her brother's Senate seat, but used Graham on all of her paperwork to exploit her brother's legacy.
Graham, a former state worker since 2008, has been criticized by Dr. Andrews for being unqualified.
People concurred with Dr. Andrews' assessment.
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The latest polling shows Graham and Andrews in a statistical stalemate.
