ELECTION 2026: Darline Graham Wins SC Runoff, Supreme Court Gives Trump a Win on Mail-in Ballots
The late Sen. Lindsey Graham's sister, Darline, has won the Republican nomination for his Senate seat in the midterm elections. Sen. Darline Graham defeated Rep. Ralph Norman in Tuesday's runoff election.
Graham defeated Norman by five points, taking 52 percent of the vote. She advanced to the runoff after finishing in the top two of a field of 10 candidates in the primary.
President Trump had thrown his support behind Graham with his endorsement and by making a campaign stop in the Palmetto State.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to serve the remainder of her brother's term after his unexpected death last month.
Graham will now face Democrat Annie Andrews in November in an effort to win a full six-year term.
Supreme Court's Mail-in Ballot Ruling
In national election news, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a temporary win for President Trump's plan to add security to the mail-in voting process. The court's three liberal justices dissented.
The decision pauses a lower court's decision that had blocked parts of Trump's executive order that was issued in March.
The executive order requires states to follow uniform standards in formatting mail ballots and to share information with the federal government about who is sending the ballots. If states don't comply with the rule, their mail ballots won't get sent.
It's unclear whether any changes could be implemented for November's midterm elections. For example, Tammy Patrick, chief program officer at the Elections Center, an association of 2,500 election officers, told AP that she believes it's impossible for any state to comply with the rule and that no one she talked to has even tried.
“There isn't a single state that does their elections in a way that this postal rule lays out,” Patrick said. “There has been this assumption that this is not going to happen."
The administration is challenging a district court ruling that blocks the postal service from enforcing directives from the executive order.
