{"id":539,"date":"2026-07-12T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T15:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=539"},"modified":"2026-07-12T15:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T15:40:18","slug":"grahams-death-upends-primary-season-further","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=539","title":{"rendered":"Graham’s death upends primary season further"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The sudden death of four-term Sen. Lindsey Graham this weekend has injected even more uncertainty into a turbulent campaign season.<\/p>\n

Read more Race for Platner alternative takes shape<\/a><\/p>\n

At the time of his death, the South Carolina Republican was running for his fifth six-year term. Last month, he handily defeated his primary challengers, a field that included conservative insurgent Mark Lynch.<\/p>\n

He was set to face the Democratic nominee, pediatrician Annie Andrews, in November. On Sunday, Andrews issued a statement offering her condolences to Graham\u2019s family and asking South Carolina residents to join her in \u201csetting partisanship aside and offering gratitude\u201d for Graham\u2019s decades of service to the state.<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s death will likely set off a struggle for the seat among Republicans in the reliably red state. Under South Carolina law, the Republican vacancy will be filled in a special primary election to be held by Aug. 11, with a runoff election between the top two finishers scheduled for Aug. 25 if none of the contenders receive a majority of the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cLindsey Graham is irreplaceable. What you do, however, is you try to move on, and our state will have to move on,\u201d Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said Sunday on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Wek\u201d program. \u201cI think August will be a very busy month in South Carolina as we start the process of finding the Republican nominee for this November\u2019s ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potential candidates for the full term include Rep. Nancy Mace, who lost the GOP gubernatorial primary and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, who lost the GOP primary runoff for governor. Lynch, who lost the primary to Graham, 57 to 29 percent, is another possible candidate.<\/p>\n

For her part, Mace, who lost the gubernatorial primary last month, didn\u2019t disavow rumors of her interest, tweeting a gif on Sunday morning with the famous \u201cGodfather Part III\u201d quote from Michael Corleone \u2014\u201dJust when I thought I was out \u2026 they pull me back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster is empowered to appoint a senator to fill the remainder of Graham\u2019s term, which ends in January.<\/p>\n

Read more Lindsey Graham, defense hawk and four-term senator, dead at 71<\/a><\/p>\n

One possible contender for the caretaker Senate seat took himself out of consideration Sunday: Rep. Joe Wilson, whose son, state Attorney General Alan Wilson defeated Evette to become the GOP nominee for governor, cited Republicans\u2019 slender hold on the House majority as the reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was grateful to speak with President Trump today reminiscing about our mutual friend, Senator Lindsey Graham,\u2019\u2019 Rep. Wilson posted on social media. \u201cI assured him my goal is to remain in the House to keep his two-vote majority for the American people!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump, speaking on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d where Graham was scheduled to appear Sunday, said he has someone he favors to replace Graham but declined to say who.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have somebody that I think would be great, but I don\u2019t want to say it now because \u2026 it\u2019s too soon with Lindsey,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to even talk about anybody, but I do have somebody that I think is really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president said he spoke to Graham, who was fresh off a visit to Ukraine, early Saturday evening and he sounded \u201ca little tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said he was informed of Graham\u2019s passing around 1 a.m. Sunday by a member of the late lawmaker\u2019s Senate staff.<\/p>\n

Mary Ellen McIntire, John T. Bennett and David Lerman contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Trump: Definitely not signing bipartisan housing bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sudden death of four-term Sen. Lindsey Graham this weekend has injected even more uncertainty into a turbulent campaign season. At the time of his death, the South Carolina Republican was running for his fifth six-year term. Last month, he handily defeated his primary challengers, a field that included conservative insurgent Mark Lynch. He was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campaigns"],"yoast_head":"\nGraham’s death upends primary season further - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=539\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graham’s death upends primary season further - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The sudden death of four-term Sen. 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