Trump endorsement fails to clear GOP field as former governor joins South Carolina Senate race

Former congressman and former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a GOP critic of President Donald Trump, launched a Senate bid Thursday, becoming the latest high-profile Republican running for the seat of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham and joins a crowded field against Trump's endorsed candidate.

"We’re at a tipping point, and that’s why I’ve decided to run for the U.S. Senate," Sanford said in a launch video. "I’d ask that you look at my record in Congress and as governor in watching out for your family’s future."

Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed last week to fill the remainder of her late brother's term, announced Monday in an interview on Fox News' "Hannity" she's running for a full six-year term in the Senate. Graham's announcement came three days after she met with Trump at the White House, where the president gave her his "complete and total endorsement" as he encouraged her to run.

But Trump's backing of the late senator's sister isn't stopping other well-known South Carolina Republicans from jumping into the contest.

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Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, who unsuccessfully campaigned this year for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in the race to succeed term-limited South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, announced his intention to run this past weekend.

Two-term GOP Rep. Russell Fry followed Monday. And businessman Mark Lynch, who lost to Lindsey Graham by nearly 30 points in last month's GOP Senate primary, also announced he'd take another shot at the Republican nomination.

The special Republican Senate primary will be held Aug. 11. If no candidate tops 50%, a runoff election will be held among the top two voter-getters on Aug. 25.

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Sanford, who served three terms in the U.S. House in the 1990s, won election as South Carolina governor in 2002 and was re-elected four years later. A rising conservative star in the GOP, he grabbed national attention and derailed his political career with an extramarital affair in 2009. But Sanford made a political comeback, winning election to his old seat in Congress in 2012 and serving three terms.

He briefly launched a long-shot and unsuccessful presidential nomination challenge against Trump in the 2020 primaries.

Known as a fiscally conservative budget hawk, Sanford pointed to the nation's debt as a key motivator behind his decision to launch a Senate campaign.

"Our country is at a financial tipping point, and I can’t sit on the sidelines while Washington adds a trillion dollars to the debt every 100 days," Sanford explained. "I’m worried for our children because, for the first time, America is borrowing from the future faster than we’re building it."

Unlike Sanford, Fry and Norman, who are both Trump allies in the House, are highlighting their support for the president.

"South Carolina doesn't need just another senator. It needs President Trump's strongest ally in the United States Senate. Make no mistake: I will be President Trump’s favorite U.S. Senator, and you will have a MAGA fighter you can count on," Fry wrote in a social media post as he announced his Senate run.

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Fry described himself as a "MAGA warrior" in an accompanying video, which included pictures of him smiling alongside Trump.

Norman emphasized that he's "running to represent the people of South Carolina in the U.S. Senate because we need a fighter who will stand with President Trump and carry on Lindsey Graham’s legacy!"

And pointing to Trump's top legislative priority, he noted, "I want to get the SAVE America Act passed in the Senate!"

Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida, conservatives and staunch Trump allies in the chamber, both cited Norman's support for Trump's election reform bill as they went against the president and endorsed the congressman. Norman is also being backed by the political arm of the powerful conservative group Turning Point USA.

Norman also landed the backing of Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina. The endorsement by Mace, first reported by Fox News Digital, came after the retiring congresswoman, who unsuccessfully ran for governor, announced on Monday she wouldn't run for the Senate.

Besides the president's powerful endorsement, Graham does have the backing of heavy hitters in Congress, including Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who said, "Darline Graham is an excellent senator. She’ll continue to be an excellent senator, and she has my full support."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., however, is staying out of the race for now.

Thune said Graham is a "strong candidate," and though she lacked elected experience, he noted she was "very accomplished in her own life."

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"She has a right, like everybody else, to get in that race," Thune said.

Backed by Trump's endorsement and enjoying plenty of name recognition thanks to her well-known last name, pundits view Darline Graham as a frontrunner in the three-week sprint to the Republican primary. And the winner of the GOP nomination will be considered the clear favorite against Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in the general election in the solidly red southeastern state.

Trump's endorsements aren't infallible, but his track record so far this cycle, albeit a couple of setbacks, is impressive.

Veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams noted that "the Trump endorsement is a major boost for any candidacy, but it doesn’t necessarily give you a lock on the seat."

"Senate seats in South Carolina do not come up very often, and politics is all about timing. You’ve got to seize the opportunity when it presents itself," Williams told Fox News Digital. "If you’re an aspiring House member in South Carolina, this is your time to run, regardless of whom the president is supporting."

And Williams, referring to Norman and Fry, noted, "There’s no downside for running. They’re going to run as Trump Republicans, and they’re going to flatter the president on the campaign trail."

That's likely not the case for Sanford, who didn't mention Trump in his social media post or his accompanying campaign launch video.

Fox News' Liz Elkind contributed to this story.