By admin 
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman will compete in a runoff for the South Carolina Republican U.S. Senate nomination after finishing second in the special primary Tuesday evening.
Read more Who is Darline Graham? 5 things to know about SC’s GOP U.S. Senate hopeful
The nomination was opened by the sudden death of longtime senator Lindsey Graham.
Norman finished second and received nearly a quarter of votes. No candidate received more than 50% of votes Tuesday, so the top two advanced to a runoff Aug. 25.
Norman will face U.S. Sen. Darline Graham in the runoff. The winner will compete against Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in November.
Norman, 73, lives in York County with his wife, Elaine. He has four children and 17 grandchildren.
Here are five other things to know about Norman.
He serves in the U.S. House
Norman has represented South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House since 2017. The district includes York, Lancaster, Cherokee, Union, Chester, Fairfield and Kershaw counties.
He is not running for reelection this year.
Norman said he would work in the U.S. Senate to get conservative bills over the finish line, including a voter ID law pushed by the Trump administration.
“The Senate is malfunctioning. It’s where good bills go to die,” Norman said. “I will be laser focused on that, and I will be laser focused on calling the Senate out.”
He also served in the state House before running for Congress.
Norman ran for governor this year
Before running for U.S. Senate, Norman competed for the open Republican governor nomination.
He finished third in the June 9 primary, picking up about 17% of votes. Norman went on to endorse Attorney General Alan Wilson in the runoff.
The statewide contest likely helped Norman in the U.S. Senate primary. He spent months this past year getting his message out to voters outside his district. Norman appeared in TV ads and televised debates statewide this spring before the U.S. Senate special primary was triggered by the death of Lindsey Graham.
Read more Timber Fire grows to 3,100 acres in Big Sur, threatening 500 structures, condors
“It [governor campaign] only garnered him 17.1% since he had to spend money to get known, but now that he is known to the conservative activists around the state, they began to coalesce behind him,” wrote Scott Huffmon, a political scientist at Winthrop University, in a text message to The State.
He is a member of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus
Norman is the vice chair of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus. The congressional caucus is generally known for being more conservative than other Republican members of the House.
The caucus often advocates for less government spending, a pillar of Norman’s campaign. Last year, Norman voiced concerns about the Trump administration’s massive spending bill, called at the time the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” before eventually voting in favor of the legislation.
Norman also has allies in and was endorsed by members of the South Carolina House Freedom Caucus.
Norman backed Nikki Haley for president
Norman was the only member of South Carolina’s U.S. House delegation to back Nikki Haley for president in 2024, snubbing President Donald Trump at the time.
Still, Norman has promised to work with the president and supported his priorities on the campaign trail, including a voter ID requirement bill dubbed the SAVE Act.
Haley supported Norman’s run for governor and her aligned political action committee gave $10,000 to his U.S. Senate campaign.
He is personally wealthy
Norman is a commercial real estate developer in Rock Hill and has spent his personal wealth on his political campaigns.
He spent $5.6 million of his own fortune on his bid for governor and poured another $400,000 into his U.S. Senate campaign last month, according to state and federal campaign finance records.
Read more Columbia man with criminal record goes to prison on new conviction, official says
McClatchy reporters Nora O’Neill and Joseph Bustos contributed to this article.