Darline Graham

President Donald Trump is once again putting his credibility in Republican primaries on the line, this time for South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham in what could be his riskiest bet of the 2026 midterm primary season.

The president last week stopped in Myrtle Beach to campaign on behalf of the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed to finish her brother's term at Trump's behest. She faces Rep. Ralph Norman in a Tuesday, Aug. 25, runoff after neither won a majority in a special election earlier in August.

"This is the easiest race that I've ever seen," Trump said during the rally. "We have a great candidate."

But after Trump scored an almost perfect primary endorsement record earlier this year, Republican voters have rejected his choices in gubernatorial primaries in Minnesota, Iowa and Georgia, and for House races in Florida. Graham may be vulnerable after admitting she is "not that informed on national security," in a debate with Norman.

Voters in Oklahoma are also heading to the polls in runoff races for governor and the U.S. Senate, where there is a contest to fill the seat formerly held by current Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

5:38 pm ET

Who is facing off in the Oklahoma gubernatorial primary?

James Powel

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is set to face off against Trump-backed former state lawmaker Mike Mazzei in Tuesday's GOP gubernatorial runoff.

Each candidate got around 26% in the June primary.

Drummond saw big-name Oklahomans, including Clay Bennett, Greg Love and Barry Switzer, contribute to his campaign, while Mazzei drew financial support from term-limited Gov. Kevin Stitt and Stitt's inner circle.

The winner will face Democrat Cyndi Munson in November.

5:20 pm ET

Georgia runoff to replace David Scott will test another family’s legacy

Jay Stahl

A special election to replace longtime Georgia Rep. David Scott, a Democrat from the Atlanta Metro area who died in April, is being held in his district on Tuesday. Scott was the first Black chairman of the powerful House Agriculture Committee.

No candidate in the July election garnered the 50% total needed to avoid a runoff race. His daughter, Marcye Scott, and Everton Blair, the former Gwinnett County Board of Education chair, were the top two finishers in July. They advanced to the Aug. 25 runoff.

The winner will complete the final months of Scott's term but will not appear on the November ballot to win a full term. Blair previously lost a competitive House primary race for a full term to state Rep. Jasmine Clark. That primary field also included Bravo reality TV star Heavenly Kimes.

5:18 pm ET

MAGA Inc. spends big for Graham

Phillip M. Bailey

Underscoring Sen. Darline Graham's importance to the administration, President Donald Trump's super PAC made a rare withdrawal from its massive campaign treasure chest on her behalf ahead of the South Carolina runoff.

Federal Election Commission records show MAGA Inc. spent roughly $830,000 on phone banking and text alerts aimed at reminding voters about the political neophyte's bid against Rep. Ralph Norman.

That last-minute expenditure is notable given that Trump's super PAC has mostly stayed out of other battleground primary contests despite sitting on a massive amount of money. It has raked in more than $403 million, mostly from billionaires and other successful business owners.

The only other time MAGA Inc. has doled out campaign cash this year was about $18,000 for Republican Clay Fuller, who won the Georgia special election to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene.

"The president is going to expend substantial resources to win the midterms," James Blair, a former White House aide who now runs MAGA Inc., told former press secretary Sean Spicer in June. "He cares deeply about the party winning and anything he can do to support that he's going to do."

5:03 pm ET

Poll shows Graham, Norman in virtual tie in 'toss-up' race

Terry Collins

The latest polling on the South Carolina Republican Senate runoff between Sen. Darline Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman on Aug. 25 indicates a potentially closer race than expected.

A tracking poll from the Atlanta-based Trafalgar Group shows a tie between Graham and Norman at almost 48%, only adding to the intrigue. The poll of 1,027 registered voters conducted Aug. 22-24 has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

A similar poll conducted two weeks ago saw Graham ahead of Norman at 26.4% to 19.5%. That poll was taken before Graham's gaffe when she was asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea are important U.S. national security interests during an Aug. 18 debate. Many political experts believe Graham's answer was a gaffe that exposed her political inexperience compared with the more seasoned Norman.

"I honestly have no real clue what's going to happen," Danielle Vinson, a politics and international affairs professor at Furman University, told USA TODAY. "Can (Graham) win the sentimentality vote and her loyalty to Trump carry her, or will voters want something different? This race is definitely a toss-up for sure."

4:48 pm ET

Rep. Nancy Mace endorses Norman for SC Senate

Sarah D. Wire

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mance endorsed her House colleague Tuesday over Sen. Darline Graham, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump.

"It's been nearly twenty years since South Carolina has had an open U.S. Senate seat. Today, we don't crown a leader. We elect one," she wrote on social media. "Ralph Norman is the only candidate with a 100% conservative voting record. He is tried and true. He never backs down."

Once closely aligned with Trump, Mace has been distanced from the president over her push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump went on the endorse Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette over Mace in the 2026 South Carolina gubernatorial primary.

4:20 pm ET

Darline Graham speaks after voting

James Powel

Sen. Darline Graham spoke to reporters after casting her vote in Lexington, South Carolina.

She said that she was "looking forward" to the runoff results and is "confident" that she will win the nomination to take the place of late Sen. Lindsey Graham, her brother, on the Republican ballot line in November.

Her race against Rep. Ralph Northam is a test of President Trump's sway in the Republican party, especially in the wake of the ongoing U.S. war in Iran as the conflict nears its six-month mark. Recent primaries have seen some Trump-backed candidates lose in surprising upsets.

4:05 pm ET

DOJ to monitor South Carolina polls

Sarah D. Wire

The Department of Justice is monitoring polls in Charleston County, South Carolina, it announced Tuesday.

The monitors include four Civil Rights Division attorneys, one South Carolina assistant U.S. attorney and one staff employee with the South Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Poll monitoring is a routine responsibility of the DOJ that has occurred under Democratic and Republican administrations.

The department has sent more than 80 people to seven states and more than 200 locations to monitor polling sites during this year's primary election cycle, it said. Monitors were recently deployed to Michigan and Minnesota, for example.

4:04 pm ET

Democratic races to watch

Sarah D. Wire

In Oklahoma’s Democratic Senate primary runoff, democratic socialist nurse N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas and minister Jim Priest will face off, continuing the in-fighting about the future shape of the Democratic party.

Also in Georgia today, the late Rep. David Scott's daughter, Marcye Scott, and former Gwinnett County School Board Chairman Everton Blair will square off in a special election to fill the remaining months of the congressman's seat.

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