President Trump called on South Carolina Republicans on Friday to treat the state’s pivotal Senate contest as if his own name were on the ballot, seeking to channel his strength with MAGA voters into a win for Sen. Darline Graham.
At a Myrtle Beach rally for Graham (R-SC), who faces a GOP primary runoff next week, Trump said one challenge for her — and for other Republicans in the midterm elections — is that he is not personally running, a factor he suggested could keep some of his supporters from voting.
His answer was simple.
“What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot,” Trump told the crowd. “Just come and vote. It’s so important.”
“So just say that I’m on the ballot, one more time, you got to say it, and you got to come out and vote.”
Trump framed the South Carolina Senate race as a referendum on both him and his policy agenda, telling voters they could “lose everything” if Graham fails to secure election to a full Senate term.
“You got to come out and vote,” Trump said, “because if we lose, you’re going to lose your border, you’re going to lose your tax cuts, you’re going to lose everything that we’ve done.”
“Think about no tax on tips, no tax on social security for our seniors, no tax on overtime – all of that’s going to be gone,” the president warned.
On top of that, Trump asserted that Democrats will move to impeach him if the party takes control of the House and Senate after the midterm elections.
“I’m going to be impeached. They’re going to impeach me. They have no idea why,” the president fumed
“You’re gonna lose all of your tax breaks. You’re gonna lose everything. So you have to get out of vote,” he added.
Trump spoke for more than an hour at the packed Myrtle Beach Convention Center, where video boards alternated between, “South Carolina is Trump Country” and “South Carolina is Graham Country.”
In keeping with old Trump campaign rally tradition, the president recited “The Snake,” a poem he uses as a parable to argue against illegal immigration.
Trump was heckled by at least one protester during the event, prompting the president to pause his speech at one point and quip: “That’s all right. That person’s going home to mom. Gonna get scolded because mom is voting for us. You know, mom is voting for us.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is stepping down from her role at the end of the month, Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Tim Scott (R-SC), Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) and Graham were among the special guests the president brought up on stage during his speech.
In her remarks, Graham thanked the president for “the beautiful eulogy you gave at Lindsey’s service.”
“That meant the world to me,” she said. It was beautiful.”
“You were one of his closest friends. I hope you know that, and you will forever be part of the Graham family,” the senator added.
Graham was appointed to her late brother’s Senate seat — at Trump’s urging — on July 14 by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and is seeking a full six-year term.
She received 32.7% of the vote in the initial primary round of voting on Aug. 11, with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) taking 24.6% and Fry coming in third with 19.7%.
Graham will take on Norman in the Palmetto State’s Aug. 25 Senate primary runoff election.
Trump had one more incentive to get voters out to the polls for the incumbent.
After noting that Myrtle Beach is “the home of 90 great golf courses,” he pledged to tee off with the top golfer in the city if Darline comes out on top in the election.
“I’ll make you a deal that if Darline wins, I’ll come down and play the best golfer in Myrtle Beach in a match. We’ll see who wins,” he said.
