Trump campaigns for Graham in final days before Tuesday’s runoff
The super PAC MAGA Inc. is spending more than $800,000 on get-out-the-vote calls and text messages to support Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina’s Tuesday runoff election, according to a federal filing. The expenditure marks the first time in months that the Trump-aligned super PAC, which has accumulated a war chest totaling more than $400 million, has spent money on a race.
The runoff is a Republican-on-Republican contest in a state Trump won in 2024 and that neither party views as competitive in November’s midterms. Graham, whom Trump publicly encouraged to seek her late brother’s full term, faces Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.). Graham placed first in the initial special Republican primary earlier this month, ahead of Norman, in a crowded field. Outcomes of runoff elections are often unpredictable, and turnout is typically low.
Trump traveled to South Carolina on Friday to campaign with Graham following a debate earlier in the week. During a Monday night tele-rally, Trump praised Graham as “tough” and “strong” and reiterated that he encouraged her to run. “She’s the perfect person to carry on the legacy of her brother, very different people,” Trump said. “She’s very much about that affordability, he was very much about foreign affairs, but he was good at everything, and she’s good at everything.” One text message paid by MAGA Inc. reads, according to the filing: “Darline Graham will fight alongside Trump to take on the Radical Left agenda and always put America First.” In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump wrote that his endorsements are “stronger than ever.” “The few that lost were done out of loyalty,” he wrote. “It was almost impossible for them to win but, I felt obligated to go with them because they were, in my opinion, good people!” Most Trump-endorsed candidates have won in Republican primaries, though some have lost, including in gubernatorial contests in Wyoming, Iowa and Minnesota. Several Trump-endorsed House candidates have also lost.
The South Carolina outlay has drawn private frustration from some Republicans who say MAGA Inc. should be directing resources toward the competitive House and Senate races that could determine control of Congress in November. The president’s advisers said they planned to increase spending in the run-up to November’s election, when voters typically start paying attention to congressional races. Joel Sawyer, a South Carolina-based GOP strategist, said a Norman win Tuesday would mean that “a Trump endorsement doesn’t assure the outcome.” White House staffers have left the administration to work for MAGA Inc. ahead of the midterms, including former deputy chief of staff James Blair. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is expected to work for the super PAC when she leaves her position at the end of this month. The super PAC has spent money in a small number of recent races, including a 2025 Tennessee special election.