Debate between the 2 US Senate candidates highlights their differing backgrounds

The Aug. 25 runoff comes two weeks after his younger sister, Darline Graham, led the 10-candidate primary with 33% of the vote, followed by Norman at 25%, according to state Election Commission data. Both want to get their supporters back out to the polls while winning over the more than 40% of voters who didn’t choose either one of them.

The contest pits a 62-year-old first-time candidate, who was sworn in a month ago as the appointee to complete her brother’s fourth term, against a 73-year-old congressman who’s held elected office since 2004. That’s when Norman first won a seat in the state House.

With very little separation in their political stances, both argued their different backgrounds as advantages. He touted 40 years as a developer, saying “unlike my opponent, I’ve owned a business.” She emphasized her 30 years in state government, the last seven leading the state Commission for the Blind, as serving South Carolinians.

Graham’s answers also highlighted how she’s different from her brother.

Voting records

“I’ve got a proven record,” Norman said in his introductory statement. “You know how I’m going to vote.” As for Graham, he continued, “we have an unknown candidate I am running against.”

Graham, who started by thanking President Donald Trump for his endorsement, accused Norman of working against the president as a holdout on last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Norman, who sits on the House budget committee, said he worked to make it better before ultimately voting for it.

“We had another bite at the apple. When you’re in the business arena, you drive the hardest bargain as long as you can,” he said, adding he told the president the subsidies for electric cars and solar and wind projects are “stupid.” “I was cutting it out. … I would do it over again. I don’t apologize for it,” he said to cheers from his supporters in the audience.

Graham argued she’s “done more in 20 days than you’ve done in 20 years,” referring to Norman’s combined time in the Legislature and U.S. House.

As Trump did last week in a pre-primary call-in rally, she pointed Tuesday to her votes enabling Todd Blanche to be sworn as U.S. attorney general as well as passage of sanctions against Russia as negotiated and championed by her brother.

Two days after being sworn in, she introduced a new sanctions bill renamed in Lindsey Graham’s honor, which the Senate approved overwhelmingly as an amendment to separate legislation on education. It is not yet law, however, as the changes await action in the House.

As for Norman’s bills, Graham said, the only one he’s sponsored that became law in his nine years as the 5th District congressman “named a post office. Good job.”

That referred to the 2018 law designating the building in Fort Mill as the J. Elliott Williams Post Office. Congressional records show Norman did sponsor one other bill that became “private law” earlier this year. It authorized Trump to award the Medal of Honor to retired Marine Maj. James Capers Jr. for his heroism during the Vietnam War.

Taiwan flub

During the debate’s section on foreign policy, Graham blanked on a question about Taiwan.

Asked whether Taiwan is a national security issue for the United States, Graham initially asked the question to be repeated before acknowledging she’s not informed on the issue.

“I’m just going to be honest up here,” she said. “I’m not a polished politician. National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise.”

However, she stressed her support of the military, noting her father was in the Army, and her brother was in the Air Force for 33 years: “So, I will do everything I can to support the military,” she said.

In his response, Norman called Taiwan a “definite ally” and trading partner.

“What the president is doing right is enabling Taiwan to defend themselves against China,” he said, adding that he believes the “peace through strength” Trump is showing with Iran is what’s really dissuading the Chinese from attacking.

Graham has said she’ll concentrate more on domestic issues than her brother, a frequent world traveler who focused on foreign policy. Her answer demonstrated that difference, probably not in a way she wanted.

Immigration

On a later question about immigration, she highlighted another difference. Lindsey Graham was part of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” who worked to get a bill overhauling America’s immigration laws through the Senate in 2013. The effort ultimately failed, and Republicans who didn’t like the bill labeled him with the nickname Grahamnesty.

Norman and Darline Graham were in agreement over opposing birthright citizenship and letting people live in the country illegally.

“This is where I differ from my brother,” she said. “It’s real clear to me if you’re here illegally, you need to be deported immediately. I’ll support deporting any illegal immigrant.”

Norman said he believes in “legal immigration, not illegal immigration. You have to get illegals out of the country now.”

But Graham accused Norman of not practicing what he preached in his own business.

During his 2006 run for the U.S. House, Norman made illegal immigration a central part of his campaign against then-U.S. Rep. John Spratt. When The Charlotte Observer reported several workers on a job site of his development company acknowledged being in the country illegally from Mexico, Norman said they worked for subcontractors, whose employees his company doesn’t get involved in vetting. Norman’s campaign also said their presence showed a failure in federal policy, as businesses shouldn’t be burdened with enforcing immigration law. But the discovery helped sink Norman’s bid that time.

When Graham brought it back up Tuesday, Norman said, “I don’t hire illegal immigrants. It’s just false.”

Trump rally

Both praised Trump’s policies. But Graham mentioned him in nearly every answer, making clear she supports his decisions.

The president will travel to Myrtle Beach on Friday in a get-out-the-vote rally for Graham.

Myrtle Beach is at the heart of the 7th Congressional District. The primary’s third-place finisher, U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, won every county in the district he’s represented since 2022. Last Friday, he endorsed Graham.

The rally at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center starts at 7 p.m. Doors open at 3 p.m.