South Carolina’s Other Graham

**Marianna Sotomayor** (0:01)
We haven't really had an opportunity to get to know her, and she doesn't have political experience. She has very much been around politics, but she has never been in elected office before. And I'm just curious if she does differ with her brother on any policy at all.

**Peter Hamby** (0:20)
Welcome to The Powers That Be Daily, Puck's podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood, and the players who run it all. I'm Peter Hamby. It's Thursday, July 30th. Today, I'm joined by Marianna Sotomayor with a look at two Senate races that are giving Republicans and Democrats some heartburn this midterm year. In South Carolina, Lindsey Graham's sister, Darline, is running to replace him in the Senate in a sprint primary election this month. But despite her endorsement from Donald Trump, she's a blank slate for most voters. And a lot of Republicans in South Carolina are resisting her sudden candidacy. And in Michigan, a Democratic fight between the left and the party establishment has turned bitter and personal with just days to go. And Democrats are worried they may jeopardize a winnable race in a battleground state, if Abdul El-Sayed, the insurgent lefty endorsed by Bernie Sanders, wins the competitive primary. We'll discuss all that and much more on today's episode of The Powers That Be.
Happy Thursday everybody and welcome to The Powers That Be. We're talking campaign politics today with my colleague Marianna Sotomayor, my best and the brightest colleague. We are in the heat of the midterms. We have some dem on dem action coming up in Wisconsin and Michigan. We're going to get into that, the establishment versus the restive left. But first, Marianna, I'm glad you're here. We're going to talk about my favorite state, South Carolina. We have an unprecedented political situation down there. Obviously, Lindsey Graham died earlier this month. That triggered a special election to fill his seat for six years because he won his primary. He was up for re-election this year. He won his primary in June, passed away in July. Now, there's a special election, a two-week election, which will likely go to a two-week runoff.
Darline Graham, his sister, who was announced to be the placeholder for the Senate seat by the governor, she decided very quickly and she told President Trump, hey, I'm going to run for the whole thing, and Trump endorsed her.
Now, this is interesting. I spent yesterday on the phone with a lot of people down in South Carolina. I know you've been talking to people on Capitol Hill about this situation because there are several Republican members of Congress, at least two Republican members of Congress, in the race to replace Lindsey Graham. Let's start there because you have some established Republicans, some young, some old. You've got Ralph Norman, who I think comes from the Fifth District, Rock Hill, Charlotte suburbs. You've got Russell Frye, who is a favorite of Donald Trump's. He's from Myrtle Beach. He's young, used to be in the state house, well connected. There's also Mark Sanford, who served in Congress before that was famously, infamously governor of South Carolina. You've got these names in the race, along with some other more conservatives who didn't like Lindsey Graham. Then Darline comes along. No one questions her character. Everyone likes Darline Graham, I guess, but no one knows anything about her.
She's deciding to run. I think it's chafing a lot of people in South Carolina and in the Republican Party. Also, Trump endorsing her is no sure shot. What are you hearing about the race on the Hill? What's the gossip?

**Marianna Sotomayor** (3:45)
Yeah, you had a great piece on Just This. I think one of the things that you had in there that I have heard is that a lot of people very much felt that Darline was a great placeholder. She could just finish out all the things that Lindsey Graham wanted to get done by the end of this year.
Then you can have a real Senate race, like you mentioned, it would be a really short special election, but they could make it happen. The moment that she and then subsequently got Trump's endorsement to be the senator for the next six years really surprised people because she doesn't have political experience. She has very much been around politics, but she has never been in elected office before. And you get into this weird place where many lawmakers find themselves in, frankly, and that place is you're just a placeholder for a seat. And you've seen kind of like these familial dynasties, which I think were applauded back in the day for holding on to power. That is not really respected anymore. I talked to Ralph Norman before the House adjourned for the August recess to ask him about this dynamic because he has been so faithful to Trump. He is a really big MAGA guy.