Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) delivered a blunt assessment of President Donald Trump and the candidates he has endorsed ahead of next week’s midterm elections, telling CNN in a text message that Trump is spreading “false narratives” about the qualifications of Sen. Darline Graham. Norman, who lost to Graham in South Carolina’s Republican Senate primary, argued that she does not live up to her conservative label.

“The voters in South Carolina are not buying the argument that everyone has to ‘settle’ for a candidate that has been propped up by special interest groups and a Republican president spending millions of dollars spreading false narratives about why Darline Graham is qualified to be elected to the U.S. Senate for the next six years!” Norman wrote to CNN. “This election is about attempts to ‘force’ a candidate on the voters of S.C. And regardless of the outcome, it didn’t have to be this way as the great people living in South Carolina deserve ‘better!’ Bottom line! Elections have consequences!”

Norman lost the primary to Graham, who carried Trump’s endorsement. Although he is a member of the MAGA-aligned Freedom Caucus, a hardline faction of House Republicans, and has historically supported Trump’s policies, Norman drew the president’s ire after publicly backing Nikki Haley in the 2024 election. Trump’s endorsements have carried heavy weight in recent Republican primaries, a dynamic that makes dissent of this kind — voiced publicly by a sitting congressman from inside the president’s own party — all the more pointed.

According to CNN, his remarks come as the GOP grapples with growing concern over a fractured party ahead of next week’s midterms. Midterm elections, held halfway through a president’s term, often serve as a measure of the party in power’s standing with voters. Trump is set to return to South Carolina this week to stump for Graham for a second straight week, a stretch of back-to-back appearances that underscores the political capital he has staked on the seat. When South Carolinians head to the polls next week, the outcome will show how much weight a presidential endorsement — and open dissent from within the president’s own party — ultimately carries.

A Family Split Made Public

The criticism extends beyond the congressman. Norman’s son, Warren Norman, a real estate developer, declared in an op-ed last week that he would not vote for Graham, arguing “there’s no true conservative to vote for in this election.”

“We need senators with the backbone to stand up to pressure from both parties, including their own, and the commitment to root out corruption wherever they find it,” Warren Norman wrote, in an unsubtle dig at Graham’s ties to Trump, who has drawn bipartisan outrage over various corruption scandals. He added: “Millions are being spent to tell voters what to fear. Far less has been said about what Senator Graham will actually do for South Carolina, or whether she’ll stand up to the people funding her campaign when it counts.”

Warren Norman said he has spent time with Democratic candidate Annie Andrews, and while the two “disagree on a lot,” they “also agree on some important things, including fighting corruption.” “As of today, I’m leaning her way,” he wrote. “It will be the first time in my life I’ve voted for a Democrat in a partisan election.”

The elder Norman endorsed his son’s position in his own message to CNN: “Warren is EXACTLY RIGHT in his statement! My entire family is NOT SUPPORTING her candidacy.”

Source: Alternet, based on reporting by CNN