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{"id":26849,"date":"2026-08-14T15:47:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/russell-fry-backs-darline-graham-for-senate-in-south-carolina\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:47:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:47:39","slug":"russell-fry-backs-darline-graham-for-senate-in-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/russell-fry-backs-darline-graham-for-senate-in-south-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Fry backs Darline Graham for Senate in South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>GOP Rep. Russell Fry threw his support behind Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) for a full term in the Senate \u2014 a key endorsement for the political newcomer who\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/08\/11\/wisconsin-minnesota-south-carolina-connecticut-elections\/darline-graham-uphill-battle-01034770\" target=\"_blank\">locked in a heated primary runoff<\/a> with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn August 25, I\u2019m asking everyone who supported our campaign to join me in supporting Darline Graham for the United States Senate,\u201d Fry said in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Fry, who unsuccessfully ran in the snap primary to replace late Sen. Lindsey Graham as the Republican nominee on the November ballot, came in third place during the first round of voting. His support for Graham \u2014 who entered the race with <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/116936914779266256\" target=\"_blank\">President Donald Trump\u2019s early backing<\/a> \u2014 will be fundamental in helping her shore up votes in his deeply conservative coastal home region, potentially countering Norman\u2019s dominance in Upstate South Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a notable shift after Graham and Fry traded fierce barbs in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/09\/south-carolina-senate-darline-graham-trump-01029927\" target=\"_blank\">leadup to the Aug. 11 primary<\/a>, primarily through attack ads sponsored by their campaigns and outside allies.<\/p>\n<p>Fry claimed Graham \u201cballooned the size\u201d and doubled the spending of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, which she has led since 2019. Security in Strength, a Graham-aligned PAC, blanketed local TV with an <a href=\"https:\/\/platform.adimpact.com\/viewer\/b00558be-2e84-4a0b-8348-2bbb742ecf99\" target=\"_blank\">ad that shows an AI-depiction<\/a> of Fry\u2019s likeness transposed onto a slice of meat in a frying pan being dumped out by Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Graham and Norman are racing to win influential endorsements from powerbrokers across the state to build a majority coalition ahead of the Aug. 25 runoff.<\/p>\n<p>Graham has received the backing of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/08\/12\/congress\/south-carolina-primary-nrsc-darline-graham-01035188\" target=\"_blank\">fellow South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott<\/a> as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DarlineGrahamSC\/status\/2087979499166040426\" target=\"_blank\">Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and GOP nominee for Agriculture Commissioner Cody Simpson<\/a> \u2014 both close allies of Trump and Gov. Henry McMaster. Norman has banked the support of several senators \u2014 Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah \u2014 as well as former U.N. Ambassador and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/playbook\/2026\/08\/12\/newsoms-swing-and-miss-state-tour-01035105\" target=\"_blank\">South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Former Gov. Mark Sanford, who also ran in the Senate primary and failed to make the runoff, has not yet publicly backed a candidate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GOP Rep. Russell Fry threw his support behind Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) for a full term in the Senate \u2014 a key endorsement for the political newcomer who\u2019s locked in a heated primary runoff with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). \u201cOn August 25, I\u2019m asking everyone who supported our campaign to join me in supporting Darline [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}