Posted on 07/12/2026 9:30:55 AM PDT by Steven Scharf
Lindsey Graham's death will kick off a breakneck campaign for his Senate seat
Republicans face a sudden August primary to fill a full six-year term.
By Alec Hernandez 07/12/2026
Lindsey Graham’s sudden, unexpected death will kick off a rapid campaign to pick the next likely senator from South Carolina — with a full six-year term on the line to replace the longtime senator.
Graham was up for reelection in November, having just dispatched primary challenger Mark Lynch just over a month ago. He was set to face Democrat Annie Andrews, a doctor who fairly comfortably won the Democratic primary.
Republicans will now race to replace Graham on the November ballot in a special primary election in mid-August, according to state law.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, President Donald Trump said he was already considering who he might back in the race.
“I have somebody that I think would be great, but I don’t want to say it now because it’s just, you know, it’s too soon with Lindsey,” he said. “I don’t want to even talk about anybody, but I do have somebody that I think is really good.”
How will Republicans pick who succeeds Graham? A special candidate filing period will open up on July 21 for Republicans interested in running for Graham’s seat, and will remain open for a week, according to state law and the state Republican Party. A primary would be held on August 11, with a runoff if no candidate reaches 50 percent of the vote on Aug. 25.
The winner of that contest will face Andrews in November for a full, six-year term that would start in January of next year.
What happens to the seat in the meantime? In the interim, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will appoint someone to fill Graham’s seat for the rest of the year.
State law is silent on how quickly McMaster must act, but generally governors move quickly to fill Senate vacancies.
He could take two paths: appoint a caretaker for the seat who would not serve beyond the rest of this year or give the appointment to someone running in the primary in hopes of boosting their campaign.
Who could get into the race? Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette is seen as a top option for McMaster to appoint to temporarily fill Graham’s seat. She and the governor share a close relationship, but perhaps more important in the state’s deep-red conservative political environment, Evette also has Trump’s stamp of approval.
She ran for governor this year and was the first candidate to win Trump’s backing. But as her campaign lagged, the president also issued a late endorsement for the eventual winner, Attorney General Alan Wilson. The lieutenant governor could also reactivate her gubernatorial campaign’s infrastructure to begin quickly mounting a Senate primary bid.
A spokesperson for Evette did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One person close to Evette, granted anonymity to share private conversations, said the lieutenant governor has been getting “tons of encouragement” to run, but hasn’t yet made up her mind.
Others in the slate of recent failed gubernatorial candidates are also potential contenders for the snap election to fill Graham’s vacancy on the Republican ticket.
One of them, firebrand conservative Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is already considering a bid, according to two people familiar with her thinking. She plans to begin polling for her exploratory bid this week, the people said. Mace finished fifth in this year’s gubernatorial primary.
Another member of the Palmetto State’s Republican congressional delegation quickly removed himself from consideration. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) posted on social media Sunday morning that he had already spoken with Trump and “assured him my goal is to remain in the House to keep his two-vote majority for the American people!!!”
Mark Lynch, the self-funding Upstate South Carolina businessman who primaried Graham earlier this year and won 29 percent of the vote, is also considering a run, according to his spokesperson Noel Fritsch.
Republicans mentioned Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) as a potential candidate as well.
Will this seat be competitive in November? Regardless of who Republicans land on as their nominee, they will likely be the heavy favorite in November.
Trump won the state by double-digit margins in his three runs for president, and prior to his death most election observers believed that Graham was on a glide path to another term.
The last marginally competitive Senate race was in 2020, when Graham faced off against future Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison.
Harrison raised a prodigious amount of money, topping out at over $100 million for his campaign, but still ended up losing to Graham by 10 points.
Andrews, the current Democratic nominee, has raised a decent amount of money so far, collecting over $8 million since launching her bid.
But the race has not garnered significant national attention, and Democrats have several other better options to spend in in their quest to flip the Senate.
In a statement early Tuesday, Andrews mourned Graham’s death. “I hope that South Carolinians will join me in setting partisanship aside and offering gratitude to Senator Lindsey Graham for his service to the great state of South Carolina,” she said.
The basic process is that the governor may (he probably will) appoint a replacement until the next general election*. The winner will take office immediately following cerification.
There will be a special replacement election for the new nominee as per Section 7-11-50 and was selected through a party primary election, the vacancy must be filled in a special primary election to be conducted as provided in this section.
The filing period for this special primary election opens the second Tuesday after the death, disqualification, or approval of the resignation for one week. [July 21, 2026 to July 2, 2026]
The special primary election then must be conducted on the second Tuesday immediately following the close of the filing period. [August 11, 2026]
A runoff, if necessary, must be held two weeks after the first primary. [August 25, 2026]
The nomination must be certified not less than two weeks before the date of the general election. If the nomination is certified two weeks or more before the date of the general election, that office is to be filled at the general election.
* The governor could appoint a caretaker for the seat who would not serve beyond the rest of this year or give the appointment to someone running in the primary in hopes of boosting their campaign.
Candidate prospects Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette Rep. Nancy Mace Mark Lynch, the self-funding Upstate South Carolina businessman who primaried Graham earlier this year and won 29 percent of the vote, is also considering a run Rep. Russell Fry
There could be others.
Removed himself already from consideration Rep. Joe Wilson
BTW, this is exactly the process progressive dsa democrats are calling for in Maine. Boo hoo.
South Carolina does not track party registration, but they did produce this 06/09/26 of the primary participation.
I would cavet this as to the general competiveness of each primary. If there were multiple dems viaing for senate and or governor, it likely boosted particpation.
June 2026 Primary particpation
TOTALS: 319,580
DEM: 188,006
REP: 131,574
Interestingly, they maintain significant demographic data on registered voters, but not their party.
2024 Election
Registered voters: 3,851,932
Voted 2024: 2,553,186
Percent voted: 66.28%
2022 Election
Registered voters: 3,740,742
Voted 2022: 1,720,378
Percent voted: 45.99%
Niki Haley will be rolling out of the back of her surburban with the SC Governor real soon.
I believe the Russians killed Graham, in a way similar to the way they killed Georgi Markov in 1978.
Please read my cavet above. This thread is about the process going forward. Please do not junk up this thread with irrelavant postings.
I would love to see Nikki but I don’t see her getting Trump’s endorsement. I would also love to see Nancy Mace just to watch Democrat heads explode. But she ran 5th in the Governor’s race and also won’t get Trump’s endorsement.
Get the popcorn
Agree about Nikki Haley. Trump is close with McMaster so I don’t think zNikki will get it. Nancy will not get it— she fought for the Epstein files to be released and she has been so/so in her support for Trump. I’m thinking Lt Gov Pamela Evette, Rep Fry, Rep Ralph Norman or maybe McMaster for interim.
McMaster is not Trump’s Beyotch, but they have lots in common regarding MAGA.
They should chat about a total MAGA Beast. SC could do this.
But Ms Lindsey’s Ladies in Waiting and other grifting Grahamnesty Cult members may need a few coins tossed their way.
But please don’t let that RINO gang may the choice.
and puhleeeeeze no phoookin Nimrata!
Clarify: I don’t agree about wanting Nikki Haley to be appointed—I’m mot a fan. Agree she won’t be chosen for reasons I stated.
Any Somalians available? :)
That was the first thing I thought of when I heard that Graham had just come back from Ukraine(Again, visiting Ukraine, how many times can a person visit Ukraine!) that considering the US just allowed Ukraine to get more weapons from the US, I think that is what Trump agreed to, that Putin would want Graham dead, maybe plutonium poisoning. The Russians know how to off people, they’ve done it many times before
Always on time...before the body even hits the floor the democraps are scheming to take a seat for more power.
This strictly the republicans nomination. The dems will have no role in it. They have a candidate already.
Nikki is picking out new kneepads to campaign for the appointment as we type.
That said we need a good strong male candidate.
Sounds like Trump wouldn’t mind if cMaster appointed himself. He’s term-limited as Gov. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQBLAbPbx0E
On Meet the Depressed today.
Probably aids. (j/k)
While in The Ukraine, while under Ukrainian escort the whole trip, from his landing to his takeoff? Neat trick. I'm certain a sitting US Senator (uberSupporter) traveling in a war zone got top notch escorts.
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