Nine Republican candidates competed for attention Saturday at a Florence County forum, one of the last public gatherings before South Carolina's Aug. 11 special Senate primary. The seat belongs to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died in July; his sister Darline Graham was appointed to finish his term and carries President Donald Trump's endorsement into the race. Each candidate had six minutes at the event, hosted by Republican gubernatorial nominee Alan Wilson.
Where the field broke with one another
The sharpest divide was on the U.S. war with Iran. Former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride told the crowd the United States needs to end the conflict now. He said the country should "come home and regroup for another day." Engineer and inventor Sam Shepherd took the opposite position, casting himself as more conservative than Trump and pitching his credentials as a problem-solver. Shepherd claimed he has authored 44 patents, more than Elon Musk, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
The filibuster question
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., described the Senate as the place where "good bills go to die." The Senate filibuster is a procedural rule allowing a minority of senators to delay or block most legislation; in practice, it requires 60 votes to advance a bill, giving the minority party significant power to stall a narrow majority's agenda. Norman said he was prepared to "blow up" the filibuster or pursue changes through the Senate parliamentarian to force votes on measures like the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Businessman Mark Lynch also favored eliminating the filibuster.
Where the consensus held, and where it cracked
Most candidates aligned with Trump on immigration, Israel and transgender policy. Darline Graham emphasized her record running the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, a state agency with a $90 million budget, and said she needed to study the issue further before taking a position on Flock cameras. Those cameras automatically read license plates and are being installed across the country; the privacy debate around them came up repeatedly during the forum.
Former Gov. Mark Sanford focused on the national debt, which he said is approaching $40 trillion. He tied that figure to a widening barrier to homeownership: the average age to buy a first house was 39 just fifteen years ago and is now 59, a 20-year slide Sanford attributed to unchecked federal borrowing and spending. Retired Air Force budget analyst Glenda Gail Parker broke with Trump on energy, calling for reduced fossil fuel consumption and challenging oil and gas companies to reframe themselves as energy businesses. Danny Ford II, son of Clemson's championship-winning former head football coach, called data center expansion "out of control" and said projects should produce their own power.
The primary is Aug. 11.