Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, Sahil Kapur digs into a key challenge for Sen. Darline Graham ahead of the South Carolina runoff. Plus, Allan Smith breaks down the shifting political landscape around data centers.
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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — On Friday, a South Carolina Republican voter named Roger showed up to a Donald Trump and Darline Graham rally wearing a “DARK MAGA” T-shirt. He arrived early and waited hours to see the president speak.
But Trump’s endorsement wasn’t enough to convince him to vote for Graham in Tuesday’s high-stakes GOP runoff. Graham’s recent debate performance affected his perceptions after she said that “national security is not my thing” when asked if Taiwan and the South China Sea are U.S. national security issues.
“Her people should have briefed her a little bit more,” he said. “Foreign policy is something that — you’re going to come in as a new senator, as a rookie, you’re gonna have to learn that.”
Glenda Clinkscales, who said she “loves Trump” and was “excited” to see him, didn’t harbor the same feelings for Graham. Like Roger, she was undecided.
“Some good answers and some not so good answers,” she said when asked what she made of Graham’s debate performance. “I’m not so sure about her right now.”
The hesitation by the two Trump supporters casts a cloud over Graham’s prospects for a six-year term as she faces five-term Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C.
Another voter, Daniel Musick of Myrtle Beach, labeled Trump “the best president we’ve ever had.” He had made up his mind for Norman even before watching Trump and Graham at the rally.
“It’s just that she’s untested. I don’t know enough about her,” he said, adding that “part of the reason” for his opposition to Graham is her debate moment. “Her answer on foreign affairs, when it came to China and Taiwan — it was really unclear that she knew her foreign policy, and to me that was the biggest issue.”
Norman has sought to capitalize on her debate blunder, but it’s not clear he is on the path to victory. Norman is 73, at a time when age is an issue for voters, and has been accused by Graham’s team of being insufficiently loyal to Trump as a member of the House Freedom Caucus that seeks to push his agenda to the right.
Graham, 62, has defended her debate moment by saying voters in South Carolina aren’t asking her about China and Taiwan.
“Now the critics say I shouldn’t run for the Senate. They say I’m not a politician. You know what I say? Guilty as charged,” Graham said at Friday’s rally with Trump. “And by the way, President Trump had never served in an elected office before, and I think he’s done a damn good job.”
Trump, for his part, said Graham was just “being honest” in the debate.
