GOP House member on ’embarrassing’ South Carolina prospects: ‘Darline is dragging Rs’

A House Republican called the competitive Senate race in South Carolina “embarrassing,” adding that incumbent Sen. Darline Graham (R) is “dragging Rs down the ticket.”

“Republicans won this seat by 18 points. The fact it’s this close and the speaker has to come to SC 1 to drag the R across the finish line is embarrassing,” the anonymous member wrote in an exchange posted Thursday by Joe Khalil, a NewsNation senior congressional correspondent, on the social platform X .

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is expected to campaign in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, according to local news station WCSC.

A tight Senate race is unfolding in South Carolina between Graham and her Democratic opponent Annie Andrews. Nonpartisan election forecaster Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) leans in favor of Graham, giving her a 65 percent chance of winning the race.

However, a recent New York Times/Siena University poll showed both candidates with 48 percent support among likely voters in South Carolina, a state that has not elected a Democrat to the upper chamber of Congress since 1998.

“Darline is dragging Rs down the ticket” the Republican member wrote, as recounted in Khalil’s post. “The only saving grace is that the governors race is where it should be.”

President Trump recently made his third and final trip to South Carolina to boost support for Graham’s Senate bid. Graham was appointed to the seat by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) following the death of her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R).

In the state’s gubernatorial race, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) has a 74 percent chance of winning against his Democratic opponent Jermaine Johnson, according to DDHQ .