Wild Candidate Takes on Darline Graham for Senate Seat

Politics admin July 23, 2026 0 Comments

Wild Candidate Takes on Darline Graham for Senate Seat

Mark Sanford threw his name in the ring to take on late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister for the South Carolina Senate seat in defiance of Donald Trump.

While the president is backing Sen. Darline Graham in her bid for a full term after she was appointed to temporarily fill the position, it hasn’t stopped a series of candidates from joining the crowded field.

“Our ability to afford things, inflation, and the way people struggle to build a life are but symptoms of spending beyond our means as a country. We’re at a tipping point, and that’s why I’ve decided to run for the U.S. Senate,” Sanford said in his campaign launch video.

Sanford has had a wild run in politics, first serving as a congressman from 1995 to 2001 before being elected governor. During his tenure, he made national headlines for an affair after he disappeared for a week in 2009, claiming he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, when he was actually in Argentina with his mistress.

Yet despite the scandal, Sanford was still reelected to Congress in a 2013 special election and served until he lost in the 2018 midterms. He also took on Trump for the 2020 GOP presidential nomination with a short-lived White House bid.

Sanford was just one of several Republicans to jump in the GOP special election race since filing opened on Tuesday. Republican voters will choose who gets to replace Graham as their nominee this November on August 11 after he died unexpectedly less than two weeks ago. He was up for reelection in the midterms.

South Carolina Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman both announced bids to seek the nomination as well, as did businessman Mark Lynch.

Graham has an edge with the backing of the president, but she has faced mounting questions over her politics. While she has years of service as a public servant, she has never served in a political office or run for an elected position.

The 62-year-old sister of the late senator is quickly trying to shore up support among the MAGA base. The first bill she co-sponsored was the SAVE America Act, Trump’s top priority voting bill.

She also co-sponsored a series of anti-abortion bills in the Senate on Wednesday, just one day after the Daily Beast reported on her 2020 campaign donation to GOP state Sen. Katrina Shealy, one of the so-called “sister senators” who went on to help block a total abortion ban in her state in 2023.

Graham has picked up a series of endorsements since indicating this week that she would seek a full term in the Senate, including from Sens. Tom Cotton, Shelley Moore Capito and Majority Whip John Barrasso.

But not everyone is following Trump’s lead and backing the untested Senate newcomer. Rep. Nancy Mace endorsed Norman, as did former Sen. Jim DeMint.

Other conservatives have taken issue with nepotism in the race and Graham’s limited experience.

“Hard pass. Birthright senatorship is idiotic,” wrote Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, in a social media post after Graham made her plan to run official.