Darline Graham Nordone Backs Killing the Filibuster, Breaking From Her Brother's Old Position

Since Lindsey Graham's death and Darline Graham Nordone's swearing-in to fill his unexpired term, the race to hold his seat through November has come down to a five-way GOP primary set for Tuesday, August 11. Monday night's debate gave voters their clearest look yet at how far Nordone will go to align with President Donald Trump, and it produced her sharpest break yet from her brother's legacy.

Asked about the SAVE America Act, Nordone said she now supports eliminating the filibuster entirely to get it passed. "I am all for — this is where I differ from my brother — getting rid of the filibuster to get this done, because eventually the Democrats are going to get rid of it anyway," she said, according to the Washington Examiner.

Lindsey Graham stood differently on this issue for years. In a 2022 statement, Graham said he'd signed a letter with 32 Democrats pledging to preserve the legislative filibuster and noted he hadn't budged on the issue "based on who was president" — even when Trump himself pushed Republicans to change Senate rules during his first term.

The filibuster question came up during a discussion of the SAVE America Act, the election-integrity bill Trump has pushed as a top priority. Nordone was one of 14 senators who said in late July they'd support canceling the Senate's summer recess to get it passed, and Monday's debate answer fits that pattern of full alignment with the White House's legislative wish list.

What moved after the debate

Prediction markets ticked in Nordone's favor overnight. On Polymarket, her odds of winning the GOP nomination rose from about 59.4 percent before the debate (6:30 p.m. ET) to 63.4 percent by 11:02 p.m., according to Newsweek. Rep. Ralph Norman sat around 19 percent and Rep. Russell Fry around 17.4 percent at that point. Kalshi showed a similar pattern: Nordone at 60.4 percent before the debate, rising to 63 percent afterward, with Norman around 21 percent and Fry around 16 percent.

Those numbers reflect trader sentiment, not a scientific poll, and no snap poll of debate viewers was publicly available, per Newsweek's reporting.

Actual survey data tells a murkier story. An Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media survey cited by Newsweek had Norman leading the field at 22 percent, with Nordone at 19 percent, Fry at 12 percent, and former Gov. Mark Sanford at 11 percent. Businessman Mark Lynch and the remaining field trailed in single digits.

Why a runoff looks likely

Six senior GOP campaign operatives and lawmakers told Jewish Insider they expect the August 11 primary to end without a majority winner, triggering an August 25 runoff. South Carolina law requires a candidate to clear 50 percent outright; Lindsey Graham managed that in his June primary, but operatives don't think his sister will repeat it.

"The sense that this is going to go to a runoff seems pretty clear," Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and former RNC communications director, told Jewish Insider. "What happens after that is anyone's guess."

Those sources widely expect Nordone to land in the top two, but they're split on whether Norman or Fry takes the second runoff spot. What they largely agree on is that Trump's endorsement, while a real asset, may not be enough to close the gap against two sitting House members with far higher name recognition across the state. Four sources told Jewish Insider that Trump's backing didn't scare either Norman or Fry out of the race, nor has it dented their polling since.

Nordone didn't choose this Senate seat under normal circumstances. She's running a statewide campaign while grieving her brother's death, building a policy record from scratch, and facing two House members who've spent years building donor networks and local name ID. One unnamed GOP senator told Jewish Insider that colleagues on Capitol Hill are still more focused on her personally than on parsing her politics, calling the situation heartwarming but high-stakes.

Whether that sympathy translates into votes is a separate question. Nordone is betting that full alignment with Trump on the filibuster, the SAVE America Act, and canceling recess will be enough to overcome a name-recognition deficit that Emerson's polling suggests is real. The answer arrives August 11, and if no one clears 50 percent, the real fight starts two weeks later on August 25.