Trey Gowdy never expected to be in this position.
And then the bombshell dropped.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott tried to recruit former Congressman and current Fox News host Trey Gowdy to run for the Senate seat left vacant by deceased South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.
“Trey would be an amazing senator for South Carolina. I’m not sure that, as he says, he could afford the alimony or the pay cut,” Scott said of Gowdy. “But I would love to see him. He’s happily married, by the way.”
“I think he would make a great representative,” Scott added. “I think that’s undeniably true.
“I can’t think of a better person that, I think, represents the heart of South Carolina than Trey Gowdy,” Scott continued. “However, he’s been pretty clear that he is not looking for the job, asking for the job. I’m trying to get him interested in it, but we’ll see if that works out at all.”
But then President Trump endorsed Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline to serve as the placeholder to fill out the remainder of Graham’s term, which ends in January.
South Carolina would hold a primary on July 28, and if no one reached 50 percent, there would be a runoff on August 11.
Then Trump endorsed Darline Graham to run for re-election, a move that took everyone by surprise.
Darline Graham then announced on Sean Hannity’s program that she would run in the July 28 primary.
Not all South Carolina Republicans were happy with this development.
Lindsey Graham wasn’t popular with the conservative base due to his unyielding support for amnesty, the Green New Deal and the forever wars in the Middle East.
South Carolina Republicans were fine with his sister serving as a placeholder candidate, but many were concerned that no one knew anything about what she believed or if she was even a conservative.
“Even folks that didn’t like Senator [Lindsey] Graham or didn’t vote for him in the primary were pretty happy about the appointment, as a tribute to Senator Graham,” Dorchester County GOP Chairman CJ Westfall told POLITICO. “But once we saw the president jump in and support her, 95 percent are saying, ‘What the hell are we doing here? We don’t know how she votes. We don’t know what she believes.’”
“People that were excited about the appointment are now skeptical of the endorsement,” Westfall added.
Trump’s endorsement didn’t clear the field for Darline Graham either.
Congressmen Ralph Norman and Russel Fry announced their candidacies.
And it looks like Scott hasn’t given up trying to recruit Gowdy into the race.
A poll from Scott’s pollster, Peak Insights, showed Gowdy holding a 25-point lead in the primary.
“Gowdy draws 38 percent of the vote. The actual candidates in the race are bunched closely, with no clear frontrunner: Rep. Ralph Norman trails at 13 percent support, followed by both Rep. Russell Fry and Sen. Darline Graham, Lindsey’s sister, who is running for a full term after being appointed, both at 9 percent. Businessman Mark Lynch, a self-funder who lost a Senate primary to Graham last summer, pulls 7 percent support. The survey of 900 likely GOP primary voters for South Carolina’s special election was conducted before anyone formally entered the contest,” POLITICO reported.
The poll also showed that Gowdy still led Darline Graham by 19 points even after voters were informed that Trump endorsed Darline Graham.
SC Sen GOP Primary: “Knowing that President Trump has endorsed Darline Graham, who would you vote for?”
🟥 Trey Gowdy: 35%
🟥 Darline Graham: 16%
🟥 Ralph Norman: 10%
🟥 Russell Fry: 9%
🟥 Mark Lynch: 8%
🟥 Nancy Mace: 4%
🟥 Mark Sanford: 4%Peak Insights | 7/18-20 | 900 LV https://t.co/9y74syzNfd pic.twitter.com/VVVXTCaOZ4
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) July 21, 2026
Gowdy has run into some trouble with the conservative base over the last few years after coming out in support of red flag laws that allow the government to seize firearms from law-abiding citizens and the warrantless spying the deep state used to target Trump and his supporters.
These positions would cause problems for Gowdy in a primary, and they may serve as the deciding factor in Gowdy, who indicated he is leaning against running, entering the race.
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