Myrtle Beach Congressman Russell Fry enters growing field for Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat 26%
By Nick Reynolds nreynolds@postandcourier.com0%
7/20/2026, 1:24:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Availability Heuristic, with Confirmation Bias as the most egregious example at 12.8% saturation with 118 hits. Analysis detected 786 faulty-reasoning hits from 921 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 38% and a BS Rank of 26% (14,829 of 19,798 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 74.90% of the article peer group.
COLUMBIA — Myrtle Beach-area U.S.
Rep.
Russell Fry is entering the increasingly crowded Republican primary to replace the late Sen.
Lindsey Graham despite lacking the endorsement of President Donald Trump, with whom Fry has been closely aligned during his first four years in Congress.
In a statement posted to his social media July 20, the second-term Republican and former member of the S.C.
House of Representatives characterized himself as the “conservative MAGA candidate” for the Aug. 11 special primary to replace Graham following his fatal aortic tear.
He will do so despite lacking the support of Trump, who last week issued a statement encouraging the late senator’s sister, Darline Graham, to run for her brother’s seat after Gov.
Henry McMaster appointed her to complete the final months of Graham’s six-year term.
“We need a conservative fighter in the Senate who delivers real results,” Fry said in his post.
Messages to Fry were not immediately returned.
But a source close to the campaign said that Fry had spoken to Trump several times before entering the race and had been considered a potential contender for Trump’s endorsement before the president backed Darline Graham.
“He's got a path,” said Luke Byars, a Columbia-based strategist who counts Fry as a client.
“He's got a real path.”
A growing field
Fry, a former House majority whip in the Statehouse, has been seen as a rising star in Congress, one who has maintained close ties to the White House.
He served as president of his congressional freshman class after earning Trump’s endorsement in his successful bid to replace 7th District incumbent Republican Tom Rice, who voted to impeach Trump in the aftermath of the Jan.
6 Capitol riot.
He is also a formidable fundraiser, collecting $1.4 million in the last year despite a lack of a serious challenger for re-election.
As of June 30, Fry still had more than $1 million in campaign cash on hand.
Candidate filing formally opens July 21.
Darline Graham on July 20 announced she will run for a full term in the Senate.
Congressman Ralph Norman, a recent candidate for governor.
Norman currently has less than $100,000 in his federal accounts, but he is independently wealthy and already bears statewide name recognition.
Mark Lynch, an Upstate businessman and conservative activist who spent millions of his own fortune earlier this year in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Graham.
Lynch has pledged an additional $5 million to compete in the upcoming special election.
Duke Buckner, a perennial candidate for federal office from Walterboro who finished a distant fourth in a 2020 primary election against Graham.
Former Gov.
Mark Sanford, a former congressman from the Lowcountry who flirted with a return to federal office earlier this year and has opened a U.S.
Senate account.
U.S.
Rep.
Nancy Mace, R-Charleston, another prospective candidate, announced late July 20 she would not be seeking the seat.
Can he do this?
While he would be qualified to run in the special primary for U.S.
Senate, Fry is the Republican nominee for his congressional seat covering the Grand Strand and into the Pee Dee.
Democrat John Vincent is on the Nov. 3 ballot for the 7th District seat as well.
Though state law forbids lawmakers from holding two elected positions simultaneously, nothing in state law would prevent Fry from running for both seats.
“As a practical matter, candidates have appeared on general election ballots for more than one office in previous South Carolina elections,” the S.C.
Election Commission previously said.
Such a move would have cascading effects.
If successful in his Senate bid, Fry would then likely resign his seat in Congress, prompting a special election in early 2027.
Several prospective candidates — including current Myrtle Beach state Rep.
Tim McGinnis — have already expressed interest in the seat.
But such a scenario would also likely mean Republicans would be short at least one seat to start the next Congress at a time Democrats are believed to have a strong opportunity to regain majorities in the House and Senate — an issue Fry’s potential rivals are already using against him.
Congressman Joe Wilson, floated early as a potential Graham successor, had already declined to run to replace Graham, stating that he intended to remain in the House to help support Trump’s agenda.
Upstate Congressman William Timmons, who said his upcoming term in Congress will be his last, was also floated as a potential Graham successor, but stated June 14 he would “not do anything” to jeopardize current House Speaker Mike Johnson’s chances to be reelected Speaker when the next Congress convenes in January.
“Make no mistake about the math: a sitting House member who wins the South Carolina Senate in November vacates his Republican House seat until next May,” Mace, who will leave office at the end of this year, wrote on social media shortly after Fry’s announcement.
“That narrows an already razor-thin majority and puts the Speaker's gavel in play.
I will never hand Hakeem Jeffries that gift.”
State lawmakers are already considering how to potentially replace Fry on a faster timeline, with House Speaker Murrell Smith and state Senate President Thomas Alexander issuing a statement shortly after Graham’s death suggesting plans to meet in “the coming weeks” to address myriad concerns around the “continuity of representation” in Congress.
The GOP election is Aug. 11, with a potential runoff scheduled Aug.
25.
Contact Nick Reynolds at 803-919-0578.
Follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) @IAmNickReynolds.
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