Trump Rallies for Darline Graham as South Carolina Runoff Nears, Betting Odds Slip After Debate Stumble

President Trump traveled to Myrtle Beach on Friday, August 21, to campaign for Sen. Darline Graham ahead of Tuesday's Republican Senate runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman, according to CBS News. Since Graham was appointed in July to fill her late brother Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat, and since she failed to clear 50% in last week's crowded primary, the race has come down to a two-person contest that Trump is now trying to close out on her behalf.

"Just come and vote," Trump told the crowd, according to CBS News. "Just say that I'm on the ballot one more time."

The rally came days after Graham's shaky performance in the runoff's only televised debate, which aired statewide and nationally on Newsmax. Asked by moderator Greta Van Susteren whether Taiwan and the South China Sea are national security issues for the United States, Graham said, "I'm just going to be honest here; I'm not that informed on national security, so, but I do support the military."

Graham also badly overstated South Carolina's population during the debate, telling viewers there are "fifty million people in South Carolina, half of them live paycheck to paycheck," when the state's actual population is roughly 5.5 million, according to the Daily Wire and the Daily Signal.

Norman used the same debate to draw a sharp contrast, calling Taiwan "a definite ally" and citing chip manufacturing and China's land purchases near South Carolina military bases as reasons the state's next senator needs foreign policy fluency, according to Breitbart. Norman told reporters afterward that since the Senate seat is a six-year term, the winner needs to "get fully versed in what issues you're going to be dealing with," according to the Daily Signal.

Former Gov. Nikki Haley, who is backing Norman, wrote on X that "Lindsey Graham was well informed on the United States' national security. Darline Graham admits she's not. This is not something you inherit." Democratic nominee Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who will face the runoff winner in November, also criticized Graham's answer, writing that South Carolina "deserves better" than a senator who says national security "isn't my thing" during wartime, according to Breitbart.

Trump defended Graham after the debate and again at the rally. "All she was is being honest," he told reporters before boarding Air Force One, according to CBS News. "She's very smart, and she was being honest." At the rally he drew his own contrast between the siblings, saying Lindsey Graham "was very much about the world" while Darline Graham is "more about affordability."

Graham addressed the criticism directly in her remarks, which ran a little over 10 minutes. "Now the critics say I shouldn't run for the Senate. They say I'm not a politician. You know what I say? Guilty as charged," she said, adding that Trump himself had never held elected office before winning the presidency, according to CBS News.

The political fallout from the debate shows up in prediction markets. Kalshi had Graham's odds of winning the runoff at roughly 90% before the debate; those odds fell to 77% afterward, according to the Daily Wire. That is a meaningful shift, but it still makes Graham the favorite heading into Tuesday, not an underdog.

Norman's argument, that a six-year Senate term demands baseline fluency on foreign policy, particularly for a state home to Fort Jackson, Shaw Air Force Base, and Parris Island, is a fair and specific critique that a reasonable voter could weigh heavily. Graham and Trump have both said she never hid the gap and instead pivoted to a platform built around domestic affordability, a lane plenty of successful senators have occupied without deep national security portfolios on day one.

Whether South Carolina Republicans prioritize foreign policy credentials or Trump's endorsement and Graham's family name gets decided Tuesday, August 25, when Graham and Norman face off in the runoff. The winner moves on to face Andrews in November for the remainder of the term Lindsey Graham was elected to before his death last month.