Darline Graham

Representative Ralph Norman, the South Carolina Republican, vented frustration Tuesday night about President Donald Trump’s involvement in the Senate primary runoff he lost to one-month incumbent Darline Graham.

Trump quickly endorsed Graham, who was appointed in July to fill her late brother Lindsey’s seat, for a full term despite her political inexperience. He followed up over the next few weeks with lavish praise that reached its peak at a rally last Friday, puzzling GOP strategists concerned about the president’s priorities for the midterm elections.

Both the Republican candidates were polling well against Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in the reliably red state, which is outside the purple battlegrounds expected to decide control of the Senate.

“The president got involved. He has that right. That’s his prerogative,” Norman told a crowd of his supporters, who began booing. “Y’all, his policies are good. I never understood why he got in this race to beat, you know, but it is what it is and I’ll accept it.”

Trump hasn’t yet campaigned as hard for other Republicans looking to stem their party’s expected losses in the midterms, which favor Democrats in the fight for the Capitol. Ohio Senator Jon Husted and Alaska’s Dan Sullivan, along with candidates Mike Rogers in Michigan and Ken Paxton in Texas, have so far failed to attract the president as they struggle to pull ahead in their races.