A by-the-numbers look at Darline Graham’s runoff win
Aug 26, 2026 | 1:54 pm ET
Description
U.S. Sen. Darline Graham speaks to supporters at her election watch party Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Columbia, South Carolina, after she's declared the GOP nominee for the next six-year Senate term. Behind her are her husband, Larry Nordone, Gov. Henry McMaster, first lady Peggy McMaster, U.S. Rep. William Timmons of Greenville County, and Cody Simpson, GOP nominee for state agriculture commissioner. (Photo by John A. Carlos II/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — U.S. Sen. Darline Graham won the GOP nomination for the next six-year Senate term with wide support over all but one swath of the state, according to unofficial state Election Commission results.
The final tally Tuesday night showed Graham with 52.5% of the nearly 369,000 total votes cast. The 5 percentage-point lead over U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman represented more than 18,000 people.
The younger sister of the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham led in 34 of the state’s 46 counties, while Norman won 12 adjoining counties in the deeply red northwest corner.
That’s two more than he won in the Aug. 11 primary, adding to his concentration in the Upstate. But Graham picked up all eight counties in the 7th District won two weeks ago by its congressman, U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, who endorsed her after placing third.
Norman did best, by far, in Greenville County, both in the number (nearly 33,000 people) and percentage of votes cast for him. He led there with 67.5% of the votes, a whopping 35-point lead in the state’s most populous county. In his home county of York, the 5th District congressman took 64% of the votes, but that represented much fewer people (about 14,000).
Norman won half of the 10 counties in the U.S. House district he’s represented since 2017.
Meanwhile, Graham’s biggest win came in Horry County, the anchor of the 7th District, suggesting President Donald Trump’s rally Friday in Myrtle Beach helped with turnout. Others on stage supporting her included Fry.
She was the pick for 73% of voters in the ruby red coastal county, giving her about 26,500 votes there. Her biggest win by percentage was in rural Williamsburg County, but that 78% meant less than 750 votes.
She won her home county of Lexington with about 60% of the ballots, or 14,300 votes.
The runoff brought out more voters than in the primary two weeks earlier, when 10 candidates were competing. On Aug. 11, 11% of South Carolina’s registered voters participated. Turnout bumped up to 12% in the runoff.
Graham will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a Lowcountry pediatrician, in November.
Columbia
