Election 2026: Fry endorses Graham, focused on reelection bid against Vincent

Fry is heavily favored to return to Washington. The survivor between Graham and Norman will be a presumptive favorite as well.

“President Trump needs fighters and allies in the Senate who will show up every day and get results,” Fry said. “I believe Darline Graham will be exactly that.”

The 7th represents the Pee Dee and Grand Strand areas. This is the area in the northwestern part of the state that is bordered by North Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean.

Fry first won election to the Beltway in November 2022. His two election wins were 64.8%-35.1% over Democrat Daryl Scott, and 64.9%-35% over Democrat Mal Hyman in 2024. In his seven-candidate primary field in 2022, Fry grabbed 51.1% of the votes with Tom Rice second at 24.6%.

Fry has a 10-point plan aligning with second-term Republican President Donald Trump. It includes the familiar “American first” refrain; ending the fentanyl crisis; lowering the cost of living; confronting China; defending the Constitution and its freedoms; unleashing American energy; “taking on a broken Washington”; parents’ rights for their children, including school choice; advocate for veterans; and an advocate for farmers and rural communities.

Vincent, a Navy veteran, says his campaign is built on commitments to making life affordable; jobs, small businesses, farms and schools; healthcare and veterans, and promises to people who earned them; and accountability and a balanced budget.

South Carolina’s delegation to the U.S. House is six Republicans and one Democrat, with few if any forecasts predicting change in the 2026 midterms. The state is emblematic of the Deep South’s change from blue to red over the last half century.

There hasn’t been a Democrat from the state in the U.S. Senate since Sen. Fritz Holdings retired in 1998. The last Democrat to win the governor’s office, Jim Hodges in 1998, was also the last one-term governor.

It’s all the way back to the 1978 and 1982 elections of Richard Wilson Riley to find the Democrat before Hodges.

That's a definitive turn in the last half century of elections from those of 1868 through 1970. Over those 102 years, a Democrat won the governor’s race every time.

Republicans have also dominated statewide offices for more than a decade. And they've done so in legislative districts.

Today's state Senate is 34-12 Republican majority, and the House of Representatives is 88-36 Republican majority. Republicans have had majorities for seven four-year cycles in the Senate, dating to 2000, and 16 two-year cycles in the House, dating to 1994.