Plenty of U.S. House members have struggled this year in bids for higher office, but Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina is a unique case.
The congressman, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, gave up his seat in Congress to run for governor but ended up finishing third in a crowded GOP primary in June. A month later, however, Norman saw a new opportunity: A week after Sen. Lindsey Graham’s unexpected death, the Republican lawmaker switched gears and launched a Senate bid ahead of South Carolina’s special primary election.
Norman asked Donald Trump for his support, which he did not get. The president instead offered his enthusiastic support to Graham’s sister, Sen. Darline Graham, who narrowly defeated the congressman in a runoff. (A day later, the president taunted Norman online, writing that the lawmaker “had the look of a good Congressman (Not great, but good), but [he] ruined his career when he endorsed Nikki Haley” in the 2020 race.)
That was last week. This week, Norman, the only candidate this year to lose two statewide primaries in three months, offered a response of sorts. The Greenville News reported:
Coming off a close loss in the Republican Senate primary, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman suggested that voters write his name in as their choice in the November general election. […]
Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 31, Norman said “it was just shocking to me” that President Donald Trump got personally involved in the primary.
Norman has generally been a Trump cheerleader throughout the president’s second term, but the congressman’s perspective has apparently changed after Trump’s recent efforts.
Asked what he would tell voters who haven’t made up their minds about who to support in the fall, the congressman said, “Vote for Ralph Norman.”
Time will tell whether — and to what extent — he takes this effort seriously. And while there are a handful of past examples of candidates winning Senate races by way of write-in campaigns, I don’t imagine any objective observer would make the case that Norman could prevail over the major-party nominees.
That said, Graham has plenty of critics, not just on the left, who’ve raised concerns about her lack of qualifications, experience, knowledge and competence, and she’s taking on a credible rival in Dr. Annie Andrews, a South Carolina pediatrician, who won the Democratic nomination.
All of which is to say, if Norman invests serious time and effort into a write-in campaign and manages to put a dent in the GOP nominee’s support, there’s an outside chance the South Carolina race could become a contest that draws new national interest. Watch this space.
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