GOP Rep. Russell Fry threw his support behind Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) for a full term in the Senate — a key endorsement for the political newcomer who’s locked in a heated primary runoff with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).
“On August 25, I’m asking everyone who supported our campaign to join me in supporting Darline Graham for the United States Senate,” Fry said in a statement Friday.
Fry, who unsuccessfully ran in the snap primary to replace late Sen. Lindsey Graham as the Republican nominee on the November ballot, came in third place during the first round of voting. His support for Graham — who entered the race with President Donald Trump’s early backing — will be fundamental in helping her shore up votes in his deeply conservative coastal home region, potentially countering Norman’s dominance in Upstate South Carolina.
It’s a notable shift after Graham and Fry traded fierce barbs in the leadup to the Aug. 11 primary, primarily through attack ads sponsored by their campaigns and outside allies.
Fry claimed Graham “ballooned the size” and doubled the spending of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, which she has led since 2019. Security in Strength, a Graham-aligned PAC, blanketed local TV with an ad that shows an AI-depiction of Fry’s likeness transposed onto a slice of meat in a frying pan being dumped out by Trump.
Now, Graham and Norman are racing to win influential endorsements from powerbrokers across the state to build a majority coalition ahead of the Aug. 25 runoff.
Graham has received the backing of fellow South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott as well as Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and GOP nominee for Agriculture Commissioner Cody Simpson — both close allies of Trump and Gov. Henry McMaster. Norman has banked the support of several senators — Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah — as well as former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Former Gov. Mark Sanford, who also ran in the Senate primary and failed to make the runoff, has not yet publicly backed a candidate.
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