Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) on Wednesday faulted President Donald Trump for the tight South Carolina Senate race, claiming the dynamic would have been different if the president backed him over Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC).
Norman, who fell to Graham in the primary runoff after Trump endorsed her, told Kelly Nash that Trump played a significant role in the race that “was just not right,” saying the president wrongly swayed voters’ opinions. He was asked about a write-in campaign that began after his runoff loss, but declined to endorse the initiative.
“I would be guilty of what Donald Trump’s doing — forcing, using my whatever influence I’ve got to say ‘vote this way or that way,'” Norman said of aiding the write-in campaign. “My message: Vote for conscience and let the chips fall where they may. They should have — this race shouldn’t even be close, and it wouldn’t be if I [had won the primary] race.”
The race for South Carolina’s Senate seat had been safely Republican in the hands of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, but his unexpected death led to his sister’s appointment to fill the seat. Trump then encouraged Darline Graham to seek the full term, and she won the primary runoff in August.
Graham is set to face Democrat Annie Andrews in November, with the race slowly shifting in Democrats’ favor since the incumbent’s primary victory.
Norman was also asked whether he would vote for Graham, which he had promised to do after conceding the race. He explained he intends to keep his promise, but added that the same cannot be said of his family.
“I’m going to do what I said personally,” he said. “My family is not going to vote for Darline Graham. They’re just not. Now they’re grown and with their own children and can do what they want, but I will [vote for Graham] because I promised to do that. But that’s about as clear as I can make it.”
When pressed on whether he would campaign with Graham, Norman said he wouldn’t, citing the ways in which he was attacked during the primary campaign.
“I just can’t take part in something that,” he said. “The way this played out, and her ducking debates — and the South Carolina Republican Party has got some blame on their hands, along with President Trump, who just did the wrong thing. And the other kind, I mean, [Sen. Tim Scott (R-NC)] I like, but to put the senatorial money against me? I had some of the most conservative members of the Senate … supporting me.”
REPUBLICANS IN TROUBLE GO ALL IN ON TRUMP SUPPORT
Norman said the only time he had spoken with Graham since his loss was to congratulate her on winning the nomination.
A RealClearPolitics average of polls conducted from Sept. 28 until Oct. 18 shows Graham leading Andrews by less than 3 points.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
