2026-08-21T09:00:29.212Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/21/politics/donald-trump-south-carolina-republicans
在共和党初选中支持的三名候选人全部失利后，总统唐纳德·特朗普在南卡罗来纳州迎来了一场考验其政治影响力的高关注度硬仗。
特朗普定于周五晚在默特尔比奇举行集会，与参议员达琳·格雷厄姆一同亮相。特朗普此前背书格雷厄姆竞选其已故兄长留下的参议院席位，而格雷厄姆的竞选团队近期因一场辩论陷入动荡——她因“对国家安全了解不够深入”，无法回答有关台湾和南海的问题。
特朗普和格雷厄姆都处于关键节点。尽管白宫付出了巨大努力，包括特朗普致电昔日对手敦促他们背书格雷厄姆，但总统的一些坚定支持者公开反对他在周二共和党初选决选中的人选。
如果在南卡罗来纳州失利，这位寻求连任的总统维系党内团结的能力将进一步遭到质疑。
“整个世界都在嘲笑南卡罗来纳州，嘲笑达琳·格雷厄姆·诺登，”前州众议员亚当·摩根说道，他是诺曼的支持者，使用了格雷厄姆的全名——一些批评者喜欢用这个名字来区分她与林赛·格雷厄姆参议员。摩根补充称，达琳·格雷厄姆的辩论失误对特朗普及其团队来说是一次“严肃的自省”。
截至周四，特朗普没有表现出放弃独家背书达琳·格雷厄姆的迹象，也没有像首次支持的州长初选候选人未获胜后那样，采取双重背书策略。
“特朗普总统的背书是美国政治史上最具影响力的背书，”白宫发言人艾莉森·舒斯特在一份声明中表示，“任何持相反观点的人都是彻头彻尾的傻瓜。”
格雷厄姆在8月11日的初选中得票第一，但未获得足够票数直接胜出，需要进入决选。此后特朗普迅速行动，巩固共和党对格雷厄姆的支持。据熟悉此次通话的消息人士透露，当晚特朗普至少致电了两位对手——众议员拉塞尔·弗莱和前州长马克·桑福德，要求他们背书格雷厄姆。
结果喜忧参半。
弗莱并未立即表态支持格雷厄姆，直到三天后，在特朗普至少再次致电后才做出背书。双方讨论了特朗普可能前往南卡罗来纳州为格雷厄姆助选，弗莱提议将其选区的默特尔比奇地区作为活动举办地。
曾在2020年总统初选中与特朗普展开长线竞选的桑福德目前在决选中保持中立，而他的儿子兰登·桑福德则支持诺曼。马克·桑福德的发言人未回应置评请求。
在6月初选中挑战林赛·格雷厄姆的商人马克·林奇告诉CNN，他没有与特朗普交谈过。他在初选失利后数小时内就背书了诺曼。
“南卡罗来纳州民众不希望‘达琳女王’被华盛顿特殊利益集团和民主党政治行动委员会任命为参议员，”林奇在给CNN的一份声明中说道。
格雷厄姆的竞选团队未回应本文的置评请求。但她在事后接受记者采访时对辩论失误不以为然，称南卡罗来纳州民众“更担心自己的钱包，而非南海问题”。
周三在佛罗伦萨的一场竞选活动中，一名观众问及她针对此次辩论表现，是否对参议院的“可信度”存在担忧。
“国家安全不重要吗？当然重要，”她说道，“我能学习吗？我很聪明。是的，我会学习。我会去了解相关信息。每个人上岗都有第一天。特朗普总统之前是政客吗？他做得好吗？是的，他做得很好。”
但即便部分格雷厄姆的支持者也对这一时刻感到尴尬。当时主持人、记者格雷塔·范·苏斯特伦问格雷厄姆，台湾和南海是否属于“美国的国家安全议题”。格雷厄姆支支吾吾，泛泛地表示支持军方，还补充称国家安全“不是我的专长”。
一位在格雷厄姆进入决选后背书她的共和党议员称，她的辩论表现“令人侧目”，且“没有提振信心”。
“我有点惊讶她没有比‘我不知道那个’更好的回应方式。她不会再犯这种错误了，这是肯定的。我想她会在剩余的竞选周期里学到更多，”这位议员说道，“她在国内议题上的回答还算不错。”
一位共和党消息人士告诉CNN，格雷厄姆的团队在向捐赠者和已背书她的共和党人淡化此次失言，呼应候选人的说法，告诉他们“为经济负担发愁的民众并不关心南海问题”。
格雷厄姆的批评者、多切斯特县共和党主席CJ·韦斯特福尔指出，格雷厄姆给出该回答后，他与州共和党人的群组短信开始频繁亮起。
“观看那场辩论的都是铁杆共和党人，”韦斯特福尔说道，“而特别初选的选民是铁杆中的铁杆。”
这场辩论似乎成为了此前一直克制表达对格雷厄姆竞选保留意见的共和党人的转折点。
曾在2024年与特朗普竞选、长期支持诺曼的前南卡罗来纳州州长妮基·黑利在X平台上表示，林赛·格雷厄姆“对国家安全了如指掌”，这并非“可以继承的东西”。传统基金会主席、特朗普的坚定盟友凯文·罗伯茨称达琳·格雷厄姆的回答“令人尴尬且不可原谅”。
“我们能不能停止这种荒谬的任人唯亲试验？？？”特朗普前顾问史蒂夫·科尔特斯在X平台上写道。
格雷厄姆的批评者还指出，她在辩论中称南卡罗来纳州人口有5000万，而实际人口仅为该数字的十分之一左右。支持诺曼的众议员南希·梅斯在社交媒体上强调了格雷厄姆的这一错误，并表示，“我现在甚至都不知道该怎么评这场参议院竞选了。”
除了国家安全问题，这场辩论还标志着竞选进入了一个更具争议的新阶段。格雷厄姆多次抓住机会攻击诺曼，尤其是在一段格外激昂的闭幕陈述中。
“事实是，我在20天里做的事比你20年里做的还多，”格雷厄姆对这位连任五届的众议员诺曼说道。
诺曼大多对她的抨击不以为意，称其是“胡闹季”的一部分，但他的盟友正在强化针对格雷厄姆的言论。支持诺曼的超级政治行动委员会“棕榈州第一PAC”正在投放电视广告，称格雷厄姆“继承”了这个席位，并问道，“如果达琳·格雷厄姆用的是别的姓氏呢？”
支持格雷厄姆的外部团体阵容在决选期间不断扩大。最新加入的包括两个与人工智能行业结盟的超级政治行动委员会，以及第三个专注清洁能源的组织“投资未来联盟PAC”——该组织近期帮助击败了田纳西州共和党众议员安迪·奥格尔斯的初选连任。
为弥补支持格雷厄姆的外部资金压倒性优势，诺曼选择自掏腰包竞选。据竞选财务文件显示，他周一为自己的竞选活动贷款130万美元，加上上周投入的40万美元，累计投入已达170万美元。
在背书方面，弗莱并非自初选以来唯一一位团结在格雷厄姆身后的南卡罗来纳州政坛大人物。她还获得了参议员蒂姆·斯科特和副州长帕梅拉·埃维特的背书。埃维特曾是特朗普在州长初选中的首选人选，但在决选中输给了总检察长艾伦·威尔逊。
格雷厄姆还获得了一些反堕胎组织的背书，尽管党内批评者指出，她曾与一位曾反对该州近乎全面堕胎禁令的前共和党州议员交好，并曾两次向其提供小额政治捐款。其中一个组织“苏珊·B·安东尼名单”追随特朗普的脚步背书格雷厄姆，尽管诺曼在该组织的立法评分中获得了“A+”评级。
“我已经了解到达琳·格雷厄姆，我相信她会在参议院中100%致力于为未出生的孩子和她们的母亲发声，”SBA支持生命美国组织主席玛乔丽·丹嫩费舍尔在一份声明中说道。
丹嫩费舍尔周四前往南卡罗来纳州与格雷厄姆一同助选，参议院第二号共和党人、多数党党鞭约翰·巴拉索也一同前往。
诺曼在决选中获得了一些虽不那么高调但颇具看点的背书。其中包括列克星敦县共和党——格雷厄姆的家乡县，也是她在初选中得票最多的县。
列克星敦县共和党主席马克·韦伯表示，他于1989年从加州搬到南卡罗来纳州，逐渐意识到该州“真正信奉州权和地方自治”。
“虽然我是特朗普的支持者，列克星敦和南卡罗来纳州都是特朗普的地盘，”韦伯在一条短信中说道，“但南卡罗来纳州的选民不希望任何人强迫我们，或告诉我们如何投票。”
Trump tries to push Sen. Darline Graham across the finish line over some Republicans’ objections
2026-08-21T09:00:29.212Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/21/politics/donald-trump-south-carolina-republicans
Fresh off the losses of three candidates he endorsed in Republican primaries, President Donald Trump faces a much higher-profile test of his political power in South Carolina.
Trump is set to hold a rally Friday night in Myrtle Beach with Sen. Darline Graham, whom he endorsed for her late brother’s Senate seat and whose campaign was shaken by a recent debate when she couldn’t answer a question about Taiwan and the South China Sea because she was “not that informed about national security.”
Both Trump and Graham are at a crucial moment. Some stalwart supporters of the president are openly rejecting his pick in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff, despite a strong effort by the White House that included Trump calling old rivals to push them to endorse her.
A defeat in South Carolina would further call into question the second-term president’s ability to keep his party ranks in line.
“The entire world is laughing at South Carolina right now and laughing at Darline Graham Nordone,” said former state Rep. Adam Morgan, a Norman supporter, using the full name for Graham that some of her critics like to invoke to distinguish her from Sen. Lindsey Graham. Morgan added that Darline Graham’s debate flub had to be a “serious gut check” for Trump and his political team.
As of Thursday, Trump was showing no signs of backing away from his exclusive support for Darline Graham or making a double endorsement like he did in the South Carolina governor’s runoff after his first pick didn’t win the primary.
“President Trump’s endorsement is the most powerful endorsement in the history of American politics,” White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said in a statement. “Anyone claiming otherwise is a complete and utter fool.”
Trump moved quickly to consolidate GOP support behind Graham after she finished first in the August 11 primary but did not get enough of the vote to avoid a runoff. Trump called at least two of her opponents that night – Rep. Russell Fry and former Gov. Mark Sanford – and asked them to endorse her, according to sources familiar with the calls.
The results were mixed.
Fry was not ready to immediately back Graham and waited until three days later, after at least one other call from Trump, to do so. They talked about Trump possibly coming to South Carolina to stump for Graham in the runoff, and Fry suggested a place in his district, the Myrtle Beach area, as a good location.
Sanford, who also ran a long-shot campaign against Trump in the 2020 presidential primary, remains neutral in the runoff, while one of his sons, Landon Sanford, backed Norman. A representative for Mark Sanford did not respond to a request for comment.
Businessman Mark Lynch, who ran against Lindsey Graham in the June primary, told CNN he had not spoken to Trump. He endorsed Norman within hours after losing the primary.
“South Carolinians do not want ‘Queen Darline’ appointed as their senator by D.C. special interests and Democrat PACs,” Lynch said in a statement to CNN.
Graham’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story. But she shrugged off the debate flub while speaking with reporters afterward, saying South Carolinians are “worried about their pocketbooks more than they’re worried about the South China Sea.”
During a campaign event Wednesday in Florence, an audience member asked if she had any concerns about “credibility” in the Senate in light of the debate answer.
“Is national security important? Absolutely,” she said. “Can I learn? I’m smart. Yes, I’ll learn. I’ll become informed. Everybody has a first day on the job. President Trump, was he a politician? Has he done a good job? Yes, he has.”
Yet even some Graham supporters cringed at the moment, which came when a moderator, journalist Greta Van Susteren, asked Graham if Taiwan and the South China Sea were “national security issues for the United States.” Struggling to answer, Graham voiced general support for the military and added national security is “not my thing.”
A Republican lawmaker who endorsed Graham after she made the runoff called her debate performance “eyebrow-raising” and said it “didn’t inspire confidence.”
“I’m a little surprised she didn’t have a better pivot than ‘I don’t know about that’. She won’t make that mistake again, that’s for sure. I would think she’ll be able to learn more during the rest of this term,” the lawmaker said. “She had decent answers about domestic issues.”
A GOP source told CNN Graham’s team was downplaying the gaffe to donors and Republicans who’d endorsed her, echoing the candidate and telling them that “people struggling with affordability aren’t concerned about the South China Sea.”
Dorchester County GOP Chairman CJ Westfall, a Graham critic, noted his group texts with state Republicans started lighting up when Graham gave that answer.
“The people who were watching that are the hardcore Republicans,” said Westfall. “And a special runoff? Those voters are the most hardcore of the hardcore.”
The debate moment appeared to be a turning point for Republicans who had previously been holding back on airing reservations about her candidacy.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a longtime Norman ally who ran against Trump in 2024, said on X that Lindsey Graham was “well informed” about national security and it is “not something you inherit.” Kevin Roberts, head of the Heritage Foundation and a strong Trump ally, called Darline Graham’s answer “embarrassing and inexcusable.”
“Can we just stop this ridiculous experiment in nepotism now???” former Trump adviser Steve Cortes wrote on X.
Graham’s critics also noted that she said during the debate that South Carolina has a population of 50 million people when it is actually about a tenth of that size. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Norman supporter, highlighted Graham’s error on social media and said, “I can’t even right now with this Senate race.”
Beyond the national security question, the debate signaled that the race had entered a new, more contentious phase. Graham seized several opportunities to attack Norman, including in a closing statement that was particularly animated.
“Fact is, I’ve done more in 20 days than you have done in 20 years,” Graham told Norman, a five-term congressman.
Norman largely shrugged off her jabs as part of “silly season,” but his allies are sharpening their rhetoric against her. A pro-Norman super PAC, Palmetto First PAC, is running a TV ad that says Graham “inherited” the seat and asks, “What if Darline Graham had any other last name?”
The cast of outside groups backing Graham has only grown in the runoff. The latest entrants include two super PACs aligned with artificial intelligence industry and a third group focused on clean energy, Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC, that recently helped unseat Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, in his primary.
Norman has sought to make up for the overwhelming outside funding backing Graham by self-funding his campaign. He loaned his campaign $1.3 million on Monday, according to a campaign finance filing, adding to the $400,000 he put into his campaign last week.
As for endorsements, Fry is not the only big name in South Carolina politics that has coalesced behind Graham since the primary. She has also picked up endorsements from Sen. Tim Scott and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette. Evette was Trump’s initial choice in the primary for governor but lost to Attorney General Alan Wilson in the runoff.
Graham has also garnered endorsements from some anti-abortion groups as intra-party critics question have highlighted her friendship with — and two past small political donations to – a former GOP state lawmaker who fought the state’s near-total abortion ban. One of the organizations, the Susan B. Anthony List, followed Trump’s lead and backed Graham even though Norman has an “A+” rating on its legislative scorecard.
“I have gotten to know Darline Graham and I am confident she is 100% committed to advocating for unborn children and their mothers in the U.S. Senate,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.
Dannenfelser visited South Carolina on Thursday to campaign with Graham, as did the second highest-ranking Republican in the Senate, Majority Whip John Barrasso.
Norman has gained some interesting, if lower-profile, endorsements in the runoff. Among them is the Republican Party in Lexington County, Graham’s home county and where she got the most votes in the primary.
Mark Weber, the chairman of the Lexington County GOP, said he moved to South Carolina from California in 1989 and has come to appreciate that the state “truly believes in state’s rights and local control.”
“While I am a Trump support[er] and Lexington and SC is Trump Country,” Weber said in a text message, “SC voters don’t want anyone to twist our arms or tell us how to vote.”