Sen. Darline Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman advance to GOP Senate primary runoff in South Carolina

Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, will face another Republican in an Aug. 25 runoff for the party’s nomination, NBC News projects.

Appointed Sen. Darline Graham was forced into a Republican Senate primary runoff by Rep. Ralph Norman on Tuesday, raising the prospect that GOP voters will again reject a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Graham, who was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to fill the remainder of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s term in July, is looking to also take his place on the November ballot for a full six years in the Senate. Trump encouraged her to run and then endorsed her in a primary that featured 10 GOP candidates, including Norman, Rep. Russell Fry and former Gov. Mark Sanford.

Rep. Ralph Norman in the U.S. Capitol in March.Tom Williams / Getty ImagesThe winner of the Aug. 25 runoff will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a doctor who won her party’s primary in June.

Graham, the first woman ever to represent South Carolina in the Senate, has never held elected office before, and her thin résumé appeared to cost her with some voters in the first round of the primary, calling into question the power of Trump’s imprimatur.

“I understand that she’s lost a brother and lost someone very special to her, and I sympathize with that, but at the same time, I don’t think that it’s necessary just to give it to her,” Republican voter Bob Howell told NBC News in Lexington, South Carolina.