SC GOP requires record of primary voting. Did Senate candidates meet new rule?

Less than two hours after U.S. Sen. Darline Graham’s plan to run for a full term was made public, Dorchester County Republican Party chairman CJ Westfall said state party officials should scrutinize whether she met newly enacted voting history requirements.

Read more SC GOP requires record of primary voting. Did Senate candidates meet new rule?

He is concerned Graham doesn’t meet a new requirement passed by the state Republican Party last month that only allows candidates who voted in two of the last three statewide GOP primaries to run.

It’s not a policy Westfall supports, but he thought it should be equally applied. Westfall said he wasn’t working for any U.S. Senate candidates this election.

Darline Graham voted in the 2026 primary and 2024 Republican runoff, according to Election Commission records obtained by The State.

“Here are the receipts: Darline Graham meets the Republican two-out-of-three statewide primary rule,” spokesperson Abby Zilch posted on social media Tuesday morning, with a screenshot of the elections Graham voted in since the 2024 primary runoff.

The special primary election for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate will take place August 11. The election was triggered by the sudden death of longtime U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was running for reelection this year.

Several candidates filed to run or announced campaigns for the open U.S. Senate Republican nomination, including U.S. Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman and previous senate candidate Mark Lynch. Darline Graham, the younger sister of Lindsey Graham, announced her intentions to run Monday after picking up President Donald Trump’s endorsement the previous week.

It’s the first election where the Republican Party’s new rules for candidates will be in effect. The State Executive Committee can waive the requirement if it isn’t met by a candidate.

The intention is to see whether candidates who are running as Republicans in the state have supported the GOP, said party chair Drew McKissick. South Carolina has open primaries, so voters don’t register by party.

“Because there is no partisan voter registration, you don’t really have an objective measure of who really does or doesn’t have the history of supporting the party,” McKissick said in an interview Tuesday. “So, outside of party registration, really the only other thing that you can look at objectively is participation in our primary process.”

McKissick said the state party will review voting records after candidates file with the state Election Commission to determine they meet the requirements. Voting in just a runoff counts, he said.

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“Runoffs are just an extension of the regular primary process,” McKissick said. “You got round one. You got round two.”

Westfall characterizes counting the 2024 primary runoff as “bending the rule” in Darline Graham’s favor. Neither the initial primary nor the runoff had any statewide candidates on the ballot in 2024.

“It’s [initial primary] a statewide Election Day, and the runoff that she voted in was not a statewide runoff,” Westfall said. “I think it’s pretty clear.”

Darline Graham voted in both the 2026 primary and runoff, according to Election Commission records. She also voted in the 2024 runoff but not the initial primary or 2022 primary elections.

She’s voted in, and sometimes skipped, other primary elections before 2022, but Graham never cast a ballot in a Democratic primary, according to records going back to 2000.

Westfall said he opposed the voting requirement passed by the state party last month but thought it should be evenly applied for all candidates.

“I think it sends a bad message when party insiders can reject the candidacy of newcomers,” Westfall said.

Candidates Duke Buckner, Fry, Lynch and Norman all voted in the initial Republican primaries in 2022, 2024 and 2026, according to Election Commission records.

Other candidates that filed to run in the open primary are Mark McBride, Clark Neilson and Samuel Shepherd. The voting records were not yet requested by The State Tuesday. Filing opened Tuesday at noon and closes a week later.

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