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by WILL FOLKS
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U.S. president Donald Trump‘s initial choice to replace the late Lindsey Graham in the United States Senate is officially back on the board – but congressman Russell Fry‘s reentry into the Palmetto State’s high-stakes succession drama is hardly the clean transition White House politicos were hoping for.
As we reported last week, Fry was being eyed by Trump for Graham’s seat almost immediately after after the late senator’s sudden death – a geopolitical event which has sparked all manner of conspiracy theories.
The problem? Fry is already on the ballot for his seventh district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives – a seat the GOP needs to hold onto at all costs given the prevailing headwinds in the upcoming election cycle. Should the 41-year-old Surfside Beach native win the special election and become South Carolina’s junior U.S. senator, he would have to vacate that seat – which would leave the people of his district without representation for multiple months.
And leave congressional Republicans yet another member down…
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Such troubling calculus is what reportedly prompted Trump to try and push Graham’s sister – interim U.S. senator Darline Graham Nordone – to run for her late brother’s seat in the upcoming special partisan primary election. Trump went so far as to promise Nordone his “complete and total endorsement” in the event she were to run – although in South Carolina, his imprimatur has been exposed during this election cycle as not quite so “complete.”
The White House bid to anoint Nordone failed spectacularly. In addition to eliciting mass revulsion from the GOP electorate – many of whom raised cries of nepotism and entitlement – it also raised questions as to whether Nordone was even eligible to run based on a new Republican Party rule governing candidate qualifications.
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? @LindseyGrahamSC #SCSuccession
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) July 18, 2026
We've received numerous reports that Darline Graham Nordone (@DarlineGrahamSC), the purported placeholder for her late brother's seat who is now being touted to run for a full, six-year term by @RealDonaldTrump, is ineligible to appear on the… pic.twitter.com/ujqemf4fnJ
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According to our sources, the final straw came when the White House received polling which reportedly showed Nordone’s candidacy as a non-starter – even with Trump’s backing.
That prompted the White House to pivot back to Fry, who announced his bid on Monday morning.
“Too many South Carolina families are struggling to make ends meet,” Fry wrote. “High gas prices and soaring grocery costs are hurting hardworking people. We 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.
“I’m ready for the fight, and I’m all in,” Fry added.
With that announcement, Fry joined Mark Lynch, an Upstate businessman, and Ralph Norman – an outgoing congressman who recently finished third in the race for governor of South Carolina – as declared candidates for this seat. Former sixth district congressional candidate Duke Buckner has also announced his intention to run, while former two-term S.C. governor Mark Sanford is said to be leaning toward campaigning for the seat.
And as for Nordone? Well, she’s apparently still in…
Who else will file? We’ll know soon. Candidate filing for this office opens at 12:00 p.m. EDT tomorrow (Tuesday, July 21), and runs through the following Tuesday, July 28. The election itself will be held on August 11, and if no candidate receives a majority of votes in that race the top two vote-getters will face off in a head-to-head runoff election on August 25, 2026.
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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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2 comments
“Too many South Carolina families are struggling to make ends meet,” Fry wrote. “High gas prices and soaring grocery costs are hurting hardworking people.”
Hey Russ, who is responsible for the gas prices and grocery costs? Unless you really are a brainless hack you know the answer to this but you are not allowed to acknowledge it. Wtf do you think you will be able to do about it as long as Big daddy keeps throwing tariffs and bombs around?
It sure is entertaining watching what is left of the Republican Party circle the drain.
So this clown is going to run for a senate seat and the house seat he currently holds at the same time. Which one you want Fry? Make up your mind. Sounds like to me he will do a crappy job in either one. One or the other. Politicians have to be one of the lowest POS’ in America