Does a Trump endorsement still move South Carolina voters? College campaign staffers are split

South Carolinians head to the polls Tuesday in primary races that have become an unofficial test of President Donald Trump's influence in a state where his endorsements have long carried enormous weight. At stake is the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, a race in which Trump's pick trails in recent polling.

The question of the president’s sway took on new weight after underdog Attorney General Alan Wilson won the state's gubernatorial primary against Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette earlier this summer.

Trump ultimately endorsed Wilson on June 19 – just four days before the June 23 primary – but the fact that Evette lost despite having Trump's backing first raised doubts about the president's ability to move Republican primary voters in the state.

College student campaign staffers, who provide much of the labor behind these campaigns, have differing views on what that means heading into Tuesday’s vote.

‘He’s picking the wrong candidates’

Clemson University College Republicans Chairman Jack Lyle, who worked on Wilson's gubernatorial campaign and now supports GOP Rep. Ralph Norman's Senate bid – told Just the News he believes a Trump endorsement is losing its weight in South Carolina.

He points to Trump's endorsement of Darline Graham Nordone, the late senator's sister, as the clearest example. Gov. Henry McMaster's appointment of Graham Nordone effectively pushed Trump toward backing her as well, according to Lyle.

"To essentially be forced by impending laws to co-endorse in the governor's race, and now I would say too, I mean, he's staring down a loss with the Senate race at this point," Lyle said.

An Emerson College poll released last week, with a 4.3-point margin of error, shows Norman leading the Senate primary field with 22% support, followed by Graham Nordone at 19%. Specifically, in terms of Trump's influence, 53% of respondents said his endorsement of Graham Nordone does not affect their vote, 29% said it makes them more likely to support her and 18% said it makes them less likely.

McMaster appointed Graham Nordone to her brother's seat on July 13, two days after the 71-year-old senator's unexpected death from an aorta tear on July 11. 

Despite never having campaigned or held public office – unlike her brother, whose political career spanned 33 years – Graham Nordone announced her bid for a full term on July 20 during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. 

She’s spent most of her life out of the public eye, instead opting for a career in vocational rehabilitation and public service, serving as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, as well as in the Department of Employment and Workforce.

Lyle argued Graham Nordone lacks a political record and is "barely even qualified under the new Republican rule to run as a Republican candidate," while facing off against Norman and other "very respected figures in the state."

He also posed the possibility that Trump's team failed to provide the president with enough good information on Graham Nordone to keep him from endorsing her, regardless of what McMaster did, or that Trump is simply picking bad candidates. However, Lyle stopped short of tying Trump's recent primary picks to his approval ratings, which some recent public polling has shown declining.

‘Trump's endorsement is both impactful and beneficial’

Not every campaign staffer agrees. 

Anderson Matthias, a University of South Carolina junior active with the school's College Republicans and the South Carolina Republican Party, said Trump's endorsement has helped Graham Nordone's campaign.

Matthias transferred to her campaign from her brother's after the senator's death, a move he described as “really smooth.”

“I already had some pretty good relationships with the Lindsey Graham campaign staff people, and they just literally hit me up,” he told Just the News. “They called me and said, ‘Hey, do you want to transfer over?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’”

Matthias said having a campaign staff made up almost entirely of people under 24 has made the hands-on work – phone banking, door-knocking, travel, sign placement – easier to manage.

“Generally, people who are recent graduates have a little bit more flexible schedules than people who are a little bit more settled down, a little bit older," Matthias said. "College students are going to be your number one demographic, especially for a statewide campaign.”

He declined to comment on how Norman's campaign compares to Graham's.

Labor, not just endorsements

Lyle said Wilson's gubernatorial campaign was similarly staffed almost entirely by recent college graduates and current students: energy he believes ultimately carried Wilson past Evette, Trump's initial pick in the race.

Clemson College Republicans backed Wilson publicly on April 29, 51 days before Trump endorsed him on Truth Social on June 19 — just four days ahead of the June 23 primary runoff.

A mixed track record

Trump's endorsement record has fared better in lower-profile South Carolina races. His backing of Jenny Costa Honeycutt in the race to represent the state's 1st Congressional District helped propel the Charleston attorney to the GOP nomination on June 23. She’ll face Democrat Nancy Lacore in November.

The winner of Tuesday's GOP Senate primary will face Democratic pediatrician Annie Andrews, of Charleston, who ran unsuccessfully against then-Rep. Nancy Mace in the 1st district in 2022. However, if no candidate receives a vote majority in the special primary, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff on Aug. 25.

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.