South Carolina’s Surprise Election

Meg Kinnard has covered South Carolina politics for the Associated Press for 24 years, and she jokes that she expects to be covering Mark Sanford "for eternity." But in this episode of The Focus Group Podcast, she and host Sarah Longwell examine a far more immediate political puzzle: the compressed Republican primary to fill Lindsey Graham's Senate seat, following his death on July 11th. The entire race—from candidate filing to primary election—unfolds in roughly two weeks, and one of the frontrunners is someone most South Carolinians hadn't heard of a month ago.

The Lindsey Graham Legacy Problem

The focus group of South Carolina Republicans—all three-time Trump voters—revealed a complicated relationship with the late senator. They praised his longevity, his advocacy for the state, and his willingness to defend the Republic. But they also used words like "wishy-washy" and "flip-flopping" to describe his career. One voter appreciated that Graham "didn't like Trump and then he did like Trump," seeing it as evidence that Graham could evaluate a person individually rather than by party. Another worried he could be "persuaded depending on who was doing the talking."