{"id":629,"date":"2026-07-20T18:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=629"},"modified":"2026-07-20T18:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:42:07","slug":"fry-norman-join-gop-special-election-primary-for-grahams-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=629","title":{"rendered":"Fry, Norman join GOP special election primary for Graham\u2019s seat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>South Carolina Rep. Russell Fry is the latest Republican congressman running to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, setting up a potential battle with President Donald Trump\u2019s pick \u2013 the longtime senator\u2019s sister, Darline Graham.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=627\">NRCC adds 7 more seats to 2026 target list<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fry entered the race Monday, two days after his colleague Rep. Ralph Norman kicked off his campaign. With filing for the Aug. 11 primary opening at noon on Tuesday, more contenders could join the field, including Rep. Nancy Mace, former Gov. Mark Sanford and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette. Businessman Mark Lynch, who lost last month\u2019s primary to the late senator, and attorney Duke Buckner, a former House hopeful, have also launched bids.<\/p>\n<p>Following Graham\u2019s unexpected death, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to fill the remainder of her brother\u2019s term through early January. She has yet to say whether she\u2019ll run for a full term, but on Friday, Trump announced he would back her if she did. She is set to appear Monday night on Fox News.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The race to select a GOP Senate nominee will unfold on a truncated timeline: Under South Carolina law, the special primary election to replace Lindsey Graham on the November ballot will be held on Aug. 11, with a runoff election between the top two finishers scheduled for Aug. 25 if no one receives a majority of the vote.<\/p>\n<p>The winner will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, a pediatrician.<\/p>\n<p>Both Fry and Norman are pitching themselves as strong conservative advocates for Trump\u2019s MAGA agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need a conservative fighter in the Senate who delivers real results. I will be your conservative MAGA candidate in the special primary Senate election this summer,\u2019\u2019 Fry said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m ready for the fight, and I\u2019m all in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An attorney and former member of the state Legislature, Fry was first elected to the deep-red 7th District in 2022 after ousting Republican Rep. Tom Rice in the primary with Trump\u2019s support. Rice had\u00a0voted to impeach Trump over his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Fry made that vote the main issue of his primary campaign, saying Rice broke voters\u2019 trust.<\/p>\n<p>Norman\u2019s relationship with the president is more complicated. He was one of just two House members who backed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley during the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. He endorsed Trump after Haley dropped out of the race.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=625\">How Congress is losing its path(s)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In his Senate announcement, Norman, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, described himself as\u00a0 \u201ca fighter who will stand with President Trump and carry on Lindsey Graham\u2019s legacy!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Norman, who finished third in last month\u2019s race for the gubernatorial nomination,\u00a0was already on track to retire from the House. His Senate bid has won the support of GOP Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Norman urged Fry to remain in the House, asserting that his decision to seek the Senate seat could jeopardize Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s precarious hold on the majority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI respect Russell Fry and I have enjoyed serving with him in the House, but the reality is, his candidacy could leave his seat vacant until May 18th,\u2019\u2019 Norman wrote on social media. \u201cThis would leave his constituents unrepresented, jeopardize President Trump\u2019s agenda, and put the House at risk of being led by a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mace, who is also leaving the House after an unsuccessful gubernatorial run, lobbed a similar attack against Fry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re running for two offices at once, you\u2019ve already told us who you are. That\u2019s not about politics anymore \u2014 that\u2019s about power,\u2019\u2019 she said on social media. \u201cYou\u2019re either with the people you serve or you\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The legality of seeking two offices simultaneously is not in question. On Wednesday, the South Carolina Election Commission addressed the matter and concluded that \u201cas a practical matter, candidates have appeared on general election ballots for more than one office in previous South Carolina elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=623\">Critics mount offensive against change to federal grant rules<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Carolina Rep. Russell Fry is the latest Republican congressman running to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, setting up a potential battle with President Donald Trump\u2019s pick \u2013 the longtime senator\u2019s sister, Darline Graham. Fry entered the race Monday, two days after his colleague Rep. Ralph Norman kicked off his campaign. With filing for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campaigns"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fry, Norman join GOP special election primary for Graham\u2019s seat - 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=629\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fry, Norman join GOP special election primary for Graham\u2019s seat - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Carolina Rep. Russell Fry is the latest Republican congressman running to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, setting up a potential battle with President Donald Trump\u2019s pick \u2013 the longtime senator\u2019s sister, Darline Graham. Fry entered the race Monday, two days after his colleague Rep. Ralph Norman kicked off his campaign. With filing for [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=629\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T18:42:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\"},\"headline\":\"Fry, Norman join GOP special election primary for Graham\u2019s seat\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T18:42:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629\"},\"wordCount\":698,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f86f9ace99d38b33ebe2ca92cb1bf512.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Campaigns\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629\",\"name\":\"Fry, Norman join GOP special election primary for Graham\u2019s seat - American Industry Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f86f9ace99d38b33ebe2ca92cb1bf512.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T18:42:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=629#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f86f9ace99d38b33ebe2ca92cb1bf512.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f86f9ace99d38b33ebe2ca92cb1bf512.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"UNITED STATES - MAY 13: Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. 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