Lindsey Graham succession fight upended as Trump's chosen successor jumps in
Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., wants to make her role as caretaker for her brother’s seat in the Senate permanent.Graham, who was appointed to finish off the remainder of her late...
By Fox News · Fox News
Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., wants to make her role as caretaker for her brother’s seat in the Senate permanent. Graham, who was appointed to finish off the remainder of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham's term, is officially entering the special election to claim the Republican nomination in South Carolina after a push from President Donald Trump. Graham, during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, acknowledged the "tremendous amount of pressure" to take over the position and run. FOX NEWS CHANNEL’S 'HANNITY' TO AIR EXCLUSIVE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH SEN DARLINE GRAHAM ON MONDAY "I feel like I can do it, I feel an inner peace about it," Graham said. "Will it be difficult? Yes." When asked if she had made a decision on what she would do, she told Hannity she had. "I'm in," Graham said. Her addition to the growing roster of hopefuls to replace the late lawmaker will likely shake up the race less than one day before candidates can begin officially filing to run for the nomination. So far, Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Russell Fry, R-S.C., and businessman Mark Lynch have all publicly committed to running. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has strongly suggested that she’ll throw her hat into the arena, too. Meanwhile, Mace and Norman are turning their steel against their colleague, Fry, in what’s shaping up to be a messy, Palmetto State brawl to capture the Republican nomination for Graham’s seat. Mace argued that should Fry win the nomination, and subsequently the general election, he would vacate his "Republican House seat until next May." REPUBLICANS DEFY TRUMP, JUMP INTO SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE RACE DESPITE HIS HANDPICKED SUCCESSOR "That narrows an already razor-thin majority and puts the Speaker's gavel in play," Mace said. "I will never hand Hakeem Jeffries that gift." "If you're running for two offices at once, you've already told us who you are," she continued. "That's not about politics anymore — that's about power. You're either with the people you serve or you're n…