Ralph Norman

Thank you, Ralph Norman supporters — or Darline Graham critics — for making South Carolina’s general election halfway interesting.

It’s more appreciated than you know.

See, this is the time of year that South Carolina political scribes dread the most, those two months when we must find something to write about campaigns in which the outcome’s pretty much a foregone conclusion. (Sorry, Democrats; nothing personal, it’s just math.)

Statewide races around here are sort of like Alabama-Vanderbilt games. Vandy may win once every 40 years, but usually the only suspense is whether the final score is within 10 points.

But this year, Norman supporters are threatening to chip away at the spread by mounting a write-in campaign for their guy. They say Graham — sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (who they also didn’t like) and the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate — is (gasp) a liberal. Some even call her “DEI Darline.”

Which is odd, since Graham spent most of the whirlwind GOP special primary and runoff grousing about that epidemic problem of trans kids playing girls’ sports.

So Norman’s fans — mostly right-wingers of the Freedom Caucus persuasion — say not only will they refuse to support the “uniparty” candidate (what they call every mainstream GOP nominee), they’ll write in the congressman’s name. Some of them — I’m not making this up — have said on social media they’re doing this because 47 percent of primary runoff voters were “disenfranchised.”

Uh, that’s how elections work.

That also reflects a staggering lack of self-awareness when you realize these are the folks who got mad earlier this year when the state Legislature wouldn’t redraw South Carolina congressional districts to ensure Republicans win all seven U.S. House seats.

Uh, wouldn't that have disenfranchised the 40-plus percent of state voters who are solid Democrats? I guess in that case majority rules.

Speaking of which: Norman has lost two statewide primary races, for governor and the U.S. Senate, inside of two months. Yet his supporters still insist that they represent the majority of the Republican Party.

Norman may think so, too. A week after the runoff, he seemed to signal he was fine with all this. When a reporter asked what he’d tell undecided South Carolina voters ahead of November’s election, he said “Vote for Ralph Norman.”

Days later, his office clarified that he'd "misheard" the question and supported Graham.

Or someone mentioned he'd signed a pledge, mandated by state law, that as a former primary candidate he wouldn’t “campaign as a write-in candidate for this office or any other office for which the party has a nominee.”

Which is probably why this new website, writeinralph.com — which sounds delightfully like “Wreck-It Ralph,” a kid’s movie about a video game villain who wants to be a hero — swears it isn’t affiliated with Norman or his campaign.

Yeah, this is getting real. These folks have set up a website. Or the Democrats are behind it, which would be a masterful bit of trolling.

The website raises serious questions about the process that led to Graham becoming her party’s nominee for U.S. Senate. It never outright cries conspiracy … but strongly suggests it. And, fair points.

The site also seeks to assure voters a write-in campaign is legal, and debunk naysayer criticism. Among its frequently asked questions is this:

Claim: “Writing in Ralph is literally a vote for Annie Andrews.”

Fact: “Votes aren’t transferred between candidates. A vote entered for Ralph Norman is counted as a write-in vote — not as a vote for Annie Andrews or Darline Graham.”

Technically, that’s true. But:

If enough people write-in Norman

Or vote for Libertarian candidate Kasie Whitener

Or simply don't vote

Well, then Andrews — the Democratic nominee — stands to benefit after the votes are counted.

Which is why some Republican Party officials want to shut all this down. Whittling down Graham votes, coupled with a predicted "blue wave" and the prospects that Democratic governor nominee Jermaine Johnson drives higher turnout, and all of the sudden it's a ballgame.

A ballgame that could end in an Andrews win. Or not.

“I don’t attach any significance to it,” Neal Thigpen, the dean of South Carolina political scientists, says of the write-in campaign. “It would take a real effort to take enough voters away from Graham, and for Dr. Andrews to have any chance.”

Thigpen has been doing this longer than most of the “Wreck-It Ralph” crew has been alive, and he is most likely right. It's probably nothing.

And it probably won't help Andrews — or Norman — win the Senate race. Still, South Carolina elections (and political reporters) can always use a little drama come November. So, thanks for that.