U.S. Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, as expected, have filed in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate special Republican primary.
Each added their names to the candidate list Friday, according to the South Carolina Elections Commission website. On Tuesday’s first day, Duke Buckner, Mark Lynch, Mark McBride, Clark Neilson and Samuel Shepherd all filed.
Fry is already ticketed for the Nov. 3 ballot in a reelection bid for the 7th Congressional District. Norman, finishing his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, was unsuccessful running for governor in the June primary.
Sen. Lindsey Graham died July 11, two days after his 71st birthday. The filing period runs through noon on Tuesday of next week, and the primary follows two weeks later on Aug. 11.
The successful candidate in the primary will take Graham’s spot on the ballot on Nov. 3. Dr. Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician, is the Democratic opponent in November and is joined on the ballot by Libertarian Kasie Whitener.
Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nardone, to finish his term until the 120th Congress is seated in January. She has said she will file, backed for the six-year term by second-term Republican President Donald Trump.
In a Friday press conference in downtown Columbia at the State House, Fry said in part, “South Carolina deserves a senator who doesn’t just cast conservative votes, but delivers conservative results.”