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by WILL FOLKS
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Conventional wisdom in South Carolina has long held that Palmetto State Republicans brutalize each other during their partisan primary elections every other spring – but ultimately come together against the “common enemy” during general elections every other fall.
It may be grudging, it may be through gritted teeth… but it invariably happens, which is why the GOP hasn’t lost a statewide election in South Carolina in twenty years (and hasn’t lost a top-of-the-ticket race in twenty-eight years).
The problem with this time-honored tradition?
Many (if not most) elected “Republicans” have become the common enemy. They have morphed into what principled members of their party – i.e. those who still believe in limited government, lower taxes and more personal liberty – have correctly branded uni-party swamp creatures.
This is especially true in South Carolina, where the governing GOP – which occupies every single statewide office and enjoys super-majority status in both chambers of its all-powerful state legislature – continues to display a galling contempt for citizens and taxpayers.
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Part of the Palmetto State’s problem is U.S. president Donald Trump – who has all but been absorbed by the status quo he once raged against. After launching his political career as a wrecking ball against the GOP establishment, Trump been coopted by the party he was supposed to reform. Along the way, he has saddled South Carolina with some absolutely terrible politicians – including establishment fixtures Lindsey Graham, Henry McMaster and (most recently) Darline Graham Nordone.
Trump also tried to foist left-leaning lieutenant governor Pamela Evette onto the Palmetto State earlier this spring – but voters thankfully saw through the ruse, forcing the president to belatedly hedge his bet.
They were not so lucky with Nordone…
Trump’s influence – along with Nordone’s gifted incumbency, bottomless neoconservative bankrolling and nonstop Fox News propagandizing – was sufficient to drag her across the finish line in a rapid-fire special election for U.S. Senate against fiscally conservative Freedom Caucus leader Ralph Norman.
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Following Nordone’s narrow victory last week, the familiar clarion call for unity was sounded… not unlike a conch horn blowing majestic and hypnotic from the top of a tropical mountain cliff.
The only difference during this election cycle? Neither side of the GOP divide appears interested in heeding its summons…
Nordone? She apparently hasn’t even bothered to call Norman and ask for his endorsement… evidently believing (like many of her supporters) that she is entitled to the support of her
Norman? He clearly doesn’t give a damn. He’s 73 years old, independently wealthy and is never running for elected office again. Accordingly, he had no problem speaking his mind about Trump’s involvement in his race…
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.@RepRalphNorman (R-SC) speaks to reporters following his Senate primary loss to Darline Graham, criticizing President Trump's involvement in the race, calling it "shocking." pic.twitter.com/H3H8SldYXc
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 31, 2026
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“As many places as we’re in trouble with liberals, (Trump) comes to South Carolina?” Norman said this week in Washington, D.C. “Ronald Reagan would not do that.”
Asked why Trump would spend money against him when he’s withholding it in critical swing states against Democrats, Norman said he “didn’t understand it.”
“To get into a primary in South Carolina is shocking,” he said. “To spent $800,000 the Friday before the vote, is shocking.”
Norman then blared his own version of a proverbial mountaintop conch horn, simultaneously signaling a choice for voters in November while channeling the frustrations of thousands of his supporters who simply cannot bring themselves to get behind Nordone this fall.
Asked what these voters ought to do, Norman had a blunt answer…
“Vote for Ralph Norman,” he said.
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While Norman is prohibited by law from mounting a petition or write-in campaign, there is nothing stopping his supporters from writing his name in on the ballot – something hundreds of them have already indicated they plan on doing come November 3, 2026.
(And something this Norman supporter hasn’t ruled out…).
There are also Libertarian and Constitution party candidates on the ballot who could warrant a second look from many conservative voters.
What would compel a conservative voter to go against the GOP nominee? And potentially hand this seat over to far left Democrat Annie Andrews for six years?
Perhaps it’s because establishment Republican candidates like Nordone are offering little more than an echo of the ostensible “common enemy,” not a choice contrary to it.
Or to put it another way, conservative voters have met the real enemy… and it is their own party’s establishment.
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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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