It was the kind of opportunity where Sen. Darline Graham’s brother thrived – squaring off with a witness in a Senate hearing, often with a fiery reaction.
But as Darline Graham read questions from her notes last week to former special counsel Jack Smith, it soon became clear this would not be a Lindsey Graham-esque moment.
Graham, appointed to finish her brother’s term after he unexpectedly died in July, scolded Smith for collecting her late brother’s phone data as part of his investigation into President Donald Trump’s conduct around the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The late Sen. Graham had been a vocal critic of Smith’s collection of GOP lawmakers’ data.
“Do you really believe that Lindsey was going to destroy evidence that was not even in his possession?” she asked.
“No, I believe your brother was a patriotic public servant,” Smith replied. “He was not a target of our investigation, and in fact he likely would have been a witness in our case.”
Graham read a few follow-up questions before taking a breath, cutting Smith off and looking back down at her notes.
“Do you know what I think? I think you are just trying to bully my brother and other allies of President Trump. You caused my brother and a lot of other senators a lot of stress, and that makes me sick,” Graham said, looking at her papers between sentences. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Perhaps it was because a colleague’s basketball-related gaffe consumed the headlines, but the punch didn’t land. What may have become a moment to elicit sympathy for her family and put Smith in his place instead seemingly failed to resonate in South Carolina.
Even after a crash course in politics this summer following her brother’s sudden death, Darline Graham, the candidate, remains very different from Lindsey Graham, the candidate. Her campaign performance is coming under increased scrutiny as Republicans in South Carolina and Washington rush to bolster her with millions in new ad spending.
Democratic nominee Annie Andrews is newly competitive in a state President Donald Trump won two years ago by 18 points. A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate seat in South Carolina since 1998.
“The only real concern for us, statewide, is Darline’s race. And I still think she’ll win. If the election were held today though, I think she’d only win by like two to maybe three points. I don’t think that will be the case come Election Day,” a top staffer on a different statewide GOP candidate’s team told CNN, with a reminder that South Carolina does have straight-party voting.
Republicans have complained Graham is being outworked by her Democratic opponent into October. Some have criticized what they see as a lack of urgency and strategy but believe her campaign can be turned around before November.
“I would not be surprised if we saw (GOP candidate for governor) Alan Wilson win by 10 to 12 percentage points and Darline win by two to four,” said Dorchester County Republican Party Chairman CJ Westfall, who was a vocal critic of Graham’s campaign in the special primary. “She doesn’t have the fundraising, she doesn’t have the energy, and she doesn’t have the enthusiasm behind her.”
Graham’s campaign has pushed back on concerns she’s in trouble, saying she’s endured “more than a month of nonstop misleading ads” against her.
“South Carolinians are now beginning to learn the truth,” Graham campaign spokesperson T.W. Arrighi said in a statement. “Sen. Graham is winning and will win in November.”
“We are going to keep fighting, keep plugging ahead, and I’m still cautiously optimistic, you know? I’m not going to take anything for granted; that’s why I’m trying to hit every voter that I can, every corner of the state,” Graham told CNN-affiliate WYFF in an interview this week.
“Darline is not Lindsey” is a phrase often repeated around South Carolina these days. For some, it’s simply an observation of differences between the siblings.
Lindsey Graham was a force on the campaign trail and in fundraising, who relished holding court with reporters, fellow candidates and constituents alike.
He had his own share of Palmetto State critics, with some seeing him as not conservative enough while others felt he’d become too loyal to Trump. But he seemed to let the criticism roll off his back, continuing to raise money and win elections. In June, he spent millions warding off multiple challengers to eventually – and comfortably – win his primary. In 2020, more than $280 million was spent on the contest between Graham and Democrat Jaime Harrison when polling suggested the race was tight. Graham went on to win that year by 10 points.
His sister has described campaigning as “grueling” and “brutal.” She’s often seen reading off notes. While gracious and affable, she also appears more cautious and reserved at her less frequent, more orchestrated appearances.
Those close to the Graham family have called any expectation that she be exactly like her brother unfair, pointing to their very different lives.
Graham herself often discusses how she differs from her late brother. Darline is a married mother of two and a grandmother, while Lindsey remained single. The siblings both went into public service, but Lindsey chose the US Air Force and politics, while Darline spent much of her career helping people with disabilities find jobs. She was the commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind from 2019 until she was appointed to finish the remainder of her brother’s current Senate term after his sudden passing in July.
She often tells voters that she plans to earn his seat but adds that no one can ever fill his shoes.
In her short political career, Darline Graham has pitched herself as more conservative than her brother, breaking with some of his positions, like eliminating the filibuster or a more hardline approach to immigration, to side with President Trump. She often talks about their polar opposite interests when it comes to politics, noting Lindsey loved foreign policy and she’s more interested in the price of groceries.
That divergence was on display during a shaky primary debate in August, when Darline Graham answered a question about Taiwan by saying, “National security is not my thing.”
Sen. Darline Graham: ‘National security is not my thing’
When asked about Taiwan and the South China Sea during a debate with Rep. Ralph Norman Tuesday night, interim GOP Sen. Darline Graham said, “national security is not my thing.”
Sen. Darline Graham: ‘National security is not my thing’
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President Trump defended her much-lampooned performance by complimenting her honesty. Her allies paint her as a humble working mom whose passions lie in domestic issues and is juggling a Senate campaign after spending decades behind the scenes.
“They had the same hardscrabble upbringing in the back of a bar, back of a pool hall. They are cut from the same cloth, but they have very big differences,” a source with the Graham campaign said, while noting that she’s been learning her way around the Senate, campaigning and, simultaneously, grieving her brother. “Their personalities aren’t the same in that she’s very funny and affable, but she’s not a part-time stand-up comedian like Lindsey was.”
For others, the comparison between the Grahams is more of an indictment of a campaign that sometimes still feels fledgling, less than a month out from the election.
“When Lindsey was our senator, he helped a lot of the down-ballot people in tough races. He’d come campaign for them. He would overlap the get-out-the-vote efforts, even the door-knocking efforts. He was writing checks to the SCGOP,” recalled Westfall, who said that despite his criticism, he plans to vote for Darline Graham. “Her campaign has kind of disappeared.”
Graham’s campaign has chalked up her lighter campaign schedule to a jam-packed Senate schedule. Sources pointed to a marked increase in GOP event appearances around the state and local media interviews this week, since the Senate went into recess, while noting, “You’ll continue to see her out there even more as we as we close out the race.”
The top Republican super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, recently committed $5 million to the race and Trump is expected to return to the state before Election Day to campaign for her.
Some of Graham’s primary opponents have vigorously supported her general election efforts, like Trump-allied Rep. Russell Fry, who is featuring Graham at his “Freedom Fry” event at the end of the month. Rep. Ralph Norman, who lost to Graham in the special primary runoff, has endorsed Graham and says he supports the Republican ticket, though vocal discontent remains from some of his supporters organizing a campaign to write in his name.
The staffer on a different statewide Republican campaign added that the $5 million infusion from the Senate Leadership Fund is “not a small amount” in South Carolina and could give Graham “more of a runway where you can exhale here at the end.”
Graham and her allies have gone all in on using anti-trans messaging against Andrews, seeing her as especially vulnerable on the issue because she is a pediatrician. One TV ad from a pro-Graham super PAC depicts a transgender person ominously approaching a young girl in a grocery store aisle and saying Andrews “has my vote.”
Andrews released as a direct-to-camera TV ad Thursday rebutting the anti-trans attacks, including Trump referring to her with a slur, saying she wants voters to hear her “loud and clear: I don’t support biological men playing women’s sports and I don’t support – and haven’t ever performed – gender surgery for minors.”
Annie Andrews responds to attack in new TV ad
Annie Andrews responds to attack in new TV ad
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At least one veteran GOP operative said Graham was focusing too much on the wrong issues, noting “the only thing she is talking about on Twitter is Annie Andrews and trans issues.”
“That train left the station in 2024,” the veteran strategist told CNN. “She wrapped herself in the Trump flag and it is her only play, and in an environment like this, it could prove the exact wrong play.”
The troubles on the Republican side have encouraged Democrats who are finding fresh opportunities in red states across the country in the final month of the midterms.
A new super PAC, Fresh Start SC, sprung up last month and announced an initial $2.5 million investment in the race. So far, it’s run at least two ads against Graham, including one released Wednesday that criticizes her as too close with the health insurance industry.
“This race is in play because people in South Carolina are pissed off about high prices,” said Jody Murphy, a Democratic strategist working for the group a pro-Andrews group. “They’re tired of the corruption in Washington that’s driving up costs, and they want someone who will actually do something about it – that ain’t Darline.”
When CNN asked Andrews how she, as a Democrat, is pitching herself to disillusioned Republicans, she alluded to President Trump’s role in Graham’s campaign.
“I was not handpicked to run,” Andrews said in a phone interview. “I don’t owe anybody in Washington. I will be an independent voice for South Carolina. I will put South Carolina first. And if you care more about your bills than your political party or than the politics in DC, then this campaign is for you.”
The two are set for their first and maybe only debate Sunday. It is a high-stakes meeting for Graham, given it was a primary debate where she admitted national security “is not my thing,” which ultimately became the biggest breakout moment she’s had.