by WILL FOLKS
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With interim U.S. senator Darline Graham Nordone clinging to a narrow lead over Democrat Annie Andrews in South Carolina’s surprisingly competitive U.S. Senate race, you’d think the Republican establishment would be bending over backward to secure as many votes as possible.
Particularly Republican votes…
Turns out the opposite is true. With two weeks to go until election day – and with early voting already underway across the Palmetto State – Nordone’s establishment backers are continuing to rage against the conservative wing of the party she purports to represent (and whose votes she would seem to need in order to win next month).
Drawing the most aggressive attacks from the GOP status quo? Adherents of the ‘Write-In Ralph’ movement – a surprisingly robust conservative grassroots organization that hopes to write in the name of outgoing congressman Ralph Norman on the November ballot.
Norman lost a special primary runoff to Nordone in August, and belatedly endorsed her candidacy for U.S. Senate against Andrews. Many of his supporters have refused to embrace the GOP nominee, however – invoking the wrath of party leaders.
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A liberal bureaucrat, Nordone was dragged to victory thanks to the endorsement of president Donald Trump – as well as dark money attack ads against Norman funded by insider special interests. Ever since claiming her victory, though, Nordone and her allies have shown zero interest in courting Norman backers – instead becoming increasingly frustrated as the ‘Write-In Ralph’ movement has gained momentum.
That’s when the insults started being hurled…
“If you’re unable to convince conservatives to vote for Darline on her merits, be sure to try condescension and mockery,” Lexington, S.C. conservative activist Sarah Grace Allen wrote on X Sunday (October 18, 2026) in response to some of the barbs. “That oughtta do it.”
One Nordone supporter took Allen’s advice seriously…
“I’m legitimately curious what the metric of success is here,” former gubernatorial press secretary Joel Sawyer wrote on X Monday (October 19, 2026). “Do you want to take enough votes for Andrews to win, or do you want to take just enough to send a message to Graham? Or do you not care who wins, and sitting around smugly smelling your own farts is its own reward?”
Wait… what?
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RELATED | DARLINE GRAHAM NORDONE CLINGS TO NARROW LEAD
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Smug fart smellers?
Called on the criticism, Sawyer doubled down.
“In fairness, being a smug fart smeller was one of a menu of options,” he wrote.
We asked Sawyer for his complete and unabridged list of descriptors for the ‘Write-in Ralph’ movement, but as of press time he had not responded.
In 2016, then-candidate Trump seized on Hillary Clinton‘s infamous remark describing his supporters as a “basket of deplorables.” Now, the Republican establishment that absorbed Trump and his populist movement is referring to half of its own electorate as far worse.
While Nordone still has a ways to go to lose her election on November 3, this exchange is yet another example of why she is the only Republican candidate running statewide in South Carolina who isn’t leading her Democrat opponent by double digits, according to multiple surveys.
Politics is a game of addition… but Nordone apparently believes she can win by playing the game of subtraction.
We’ll find out in two weeks if she’s right…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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SOUND OFF…
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