Election 2026: Field increases in U.S. Senate special Republican primary

By Alan Wooten
The Center Square

Led by U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, and U.S. Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, the field swelled on Friday in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate special Republican primary.

Each along with Darius Mitchell added their names to the candidate list, according to the South Carolina Elections Commission website. On Tuesday’s first day, Duke Buckner, Mark Lynch, Mark McBride, Clark Neilson and Samuel Shepherd all filed.

Fry is already ticketed for the Nov. 3 ballot in a reelection bid for the 7th Congressional District. Norman, finishing his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, was unsuccessful running for governor in the June primary. Mitchell was sixth of six candidates in the June primary for this Senate seat.

Sen. Lindsey Graham died July 11, two days after his 71st birthday. He won the primary in his bid for a fifth term. The special election process follows state law. The filing period runs through noon on Tuesday of next week, and the primary follows two weeks later on Aug. 11.

The successful candidate in the primary will take Graham’s spot on the ballot on Nov. 3. Dr. Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician, is the Democratic opponent in November and is joined on the ballot by Libertarian Kasie Whitener.

Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nardone, to finish his term until the 120th Congress is seated in January. The 62-year-old is backed for the six-year term by second-term Republican President Donald Trump.

In a Friday press conference in downtown Columbia at the State House, Fry said in part, “South Carolina deserves a senator who doesn’t just cast conservative votes, but delivers conservative results.”