NPR Downplays Trump's Role in South Senator's Win

+ Darline Graham's primary win August 26, 20264:14 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered Tamara Keith Trump touts power of his endorsement following South Sen.

+ Darline Graham's primary win Listen &middot; 3:55 3:55 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5945088/nx-s1-9901855" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Darline Graham won her primary runoff in the race to replace her late brother in the US Senate.

+ Sponsor Message Transcript AILSA CHANG, HOST: President Trump is celebrating Senator Darline Graham's victory in a special primary runoff to replace her late brother in the state's upcoming U.S. Senate election. Now, South Carolina is a ruby-red state, but there are hints of GOP midterm strategy in Graham's win and hints of what Trump did to push her over the finish line. We're joined now by NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith to talk about some of that strategy. Hi, Tam.

+ TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hi. CHANG: Hi. OK. So when you look at Darline Graham's win here, how much credit do you think President Trump can claim? KEITH: I mean, he's claiming all the credit. CHANG: Right. KEITH: This morning, he posted that Graham was, quote, "an underdog candidate" who he endorsed, implying that his endorsement was essential to her win. But in this case, it wasn't just an endorsement. When she didn't get over 50% of the vote in the primary, he swooped in for a rally ahead of the runoff, and he juiced turnout for her in the Myrtle Beach area where he campaigned. And MAGA Inc., which is the president's super PAC, it hasn't spent any money on Republican candidates in months. MAGA Inc. came in at the last minute and spent more than $800,000 on robocalls and text messages to get his supporters to vote for Graham. That is a lot of money... CHANG: Yeah. KEITH: ...And it sure looks to have paid off. CHANG: I mean, it seems to have paid off. So now Graham moves on to the November election for a full Senate term. Annie Andrews is the Democrat in that race. Tell us, Tam, what do you think that matchup's going to look like? KEITH: You know, Andrews has raised a lot of money, and Darline Graham isn't the gifted political communicator that her brother was. In fact, she's running as an outsider, a newcomer. But the Cook Political Report rates this race as solid Republican. So it's really not one of the top tier competitive races that could decide control of the Senate. CHANG: OK. But what did you learn about the Republican midterm strategy from this primary? KEITH: President Trump and his team have come to believe that he is the key to the midterms, which sounds counterintuitive given that the president and his policies are deeply unpopular just 70 days out from the election. But their theory of the case is that the only way Republicans can win is if Republican voters are energized, and the single greatest force in energizing Trump voters is Trump himself. Here's how he put it on Friday at that rally for Graham. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Just come and vote. It's so important. KEITH: He's not really even giving Republicans and swing districts and swing states space to run their own races. He's trying to nationalize these midterms, campaigning in places with competitive races because Democrats probably can't get more fired up, and Republicans need a boost. That's also the idea behind next month's Republican midterm convention, which is shaping up to be a two-night Trump rally in Dallas. The RNC announced Trump will be there both nights with a speaking role on the second night. CHANG: Yeah, but, Tam, when it comes to money, do you think President Trump is actually putting his money where his mouth is? KEITH: It's something a lot of Republicans in tough races are asking too. MAGA Inc., the president's super PAC, has more than $400 million cash on hand. We saw this week that if it wants to drop a lot of cash fast, it can. I've been told to expect MAGA Inc. to make substantial investments this year, and it's far from the only Trump-aligned super PAC that could swoop in and help Republican candidates. Tomorrow, Trump is going to Texas for a fundraiser for the Republican Party. Ken Paxton is expected to be there. He is the Republican Senate candidate, scandal plagued and vastly outraised by his Democratic opponent James Talarico so far. CHANG: That is NPR's Tamara Keith. Thank you so much, Tam. KEITH: You're welcome. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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