Russell Fry

“I’ve got some opponents that have been attacking me on some DEI issues, which I don’t understand,” Graham Nordone said on Fox & Friends Monday morning.

“I’ve led a state agency for seven years where I help people who are blind find work so that they can live independently and not rely on the government, thus saving taxpayer dollars,” she continued. “So, I’m not sure how that equates to DEI. I’m really proud of what I did there.”

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s primary, Fry’s campaign paid for a digital advertisement claiming Graham Nordone, in part, “led a culture of diversity and inclusion” at the state agency. The ad began with the statement: “You can’t spell Darline without DEI.” Fry’s campaign also circulated a document showing the Commission for the Blind started developing a “culture of diversity and inclusion” around the time Graham Nordone joined the agency in 2019.

At a recent campaign event, Graham Nordone said she does not support DEI. She also addressed Fry’s DEI claims during a press call.

“What he did is weak,” the 62-year-old lawmaker told reporters on Sunday. “Attacking the Commission for the Blind for being inclusive of people with disabilities is absolutely disgusting.”

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who is supportive of Graham Nordone’s political ambitions, also found the DEI attack ad “crazy” and “terrible.”

“If you are actually supporting blind folks in your job, I would not conflate that with DEI personally,” Scott said on Fox News’s Sunday Night in America. The senator agreed when the show’s host, Trey Gowdy, said he “did not think that the D in DEI stood for disabled.”

Graham Nordone thanked Scott and Gowdy for standing by her and “calling out and criticizing these dishonest attack ads,” she posted on X.

“They simply applied common sense and questioned how helping people with disabilities find jobs and not have to rely on government assistance is considered DEI,” she wrote, adding that she is confident in the outcome of the special primary on Tuesday.

SOUTH CAROLINA GOP SENATE POLLING SHOWS TIGHT RACE BETWEEN GRAHAM NORDONE, NORMAN, FRY, AND SANFORD

President Donald Trump endorsed Graham Nordone in the race to run for a full term. She was appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) to finish the remainder of her brother’s fifth term in the Senate.

The newly appointed incumbent is facing nine other Republicans, including Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and former Gov. Mark Sanford, in this week’s election. It’s unclear if Graham Nordone will win, as recent polls show a tight race, which could head to a primary runoff on Aug. 25 if there is no clear victor. Whichever Republican candidate wins will go on to challenge Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in November.