U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, the sister of the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, has embraced anti-transgender messaging as she seeks a full six-year term after being appointed to her brother’s seat at President Trump’s urging.
Graham, who faces nine challengers, including U.S. Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry and former U.S. Rep. and Gov. Mark Sanford, recently released a 30-second ad introducing herself to voters and highlighting several issues popular with Trump and the Republican base, including abortion and opposition to transgender athletes.
“I’m honored to serve South Carolina and grateful for President Trump’s endorsement, and I’ll work hard every day to earn it,” Graham says in the ad. “I’m a conservative Republican, and I believe this: every life is precious. Men don’t belong in women’s sports, and only American citizens should vote in our elections.”
Graham was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to fill her brother’s U.S. Senate seat two days after his death. Having never held elective office, however, she remains unfamiliar to many South Carolina voters ahead of the August 11 Republican special primary.
She has sought to tie herself closely to Trump and appears to be leaning heavily into messages aimed at energizing the Republican Party’s most far-right voters.
During a debate featuring the five leading candidates for the GOP nomination, Graham touted her support for the SAVE America Act, a Republican-backed bill that would restrict mail-in balloting and impose stricter identification requirements based on conservative claims of election fraud that tend to surface whenever their party doesn’t fare well.
Graham also expressed support for eliminating the Senate filibuster to pass the bill, arguing that Democrats would likely abolish it if they regained control of the chamber.
She reiterated her position on X, writing: “If the filibuster is the only thing standing in the way of passing the SAVE America Act, then I’m a YES vote to end it. There’s too much at stake.”
Graham then linked the SAVE America Act to an unrelated attack on transgender people, writing: “Democrats refuse to protect our elections or our children from the transgender agenda.”
If she wins the nomination for a full six-year term — either by receiving more than 50% of the vote on August 11 or prevailing in an August 25 runoff — Graham will face Democrat Annie Andrews and several independent candidates in November and would be heavily favored to win.
Officially, this year’s 26th International AIDS Conference, held July 26-31 in Rio de Janeiro, advanced a clear and timely theme: “Rethink. Rebuild. Rise.” A community well-versed in resilience would respond to devastating losses in funding and political support with strategies for rising above all obstacles and ending HIV/AIDS.
Yet, over the course of the week, as thousands of scientists, researchers, healthcare providers, advocates, administrators, journalists, community leaders, and people living with HIV attended more than 150 sessions, a new rallying cry emerged around the sprawling Riocentro Convention Center: “Innovation without access is injustice.”
President Donald Trump falsely claimed on Friday that American hospitals are performing "reverse surgery" on transgender people at his direction.
"ospitals now are doing reverse surgery at my order," Trump told supporters during an August 21 rally for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Darline Graham at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in South Carolina. "They're doing reverse surgery. Nobody ever heard about it."
It is unclear what Trump meant. Upon taking office last year, he issued an executive order prohibiting federal funds from being used to cover gender-affirming treatments for people under age 19.
Dolly Parton, the beloved singer-songwriter, actress, and longtime LGBTQ ally, has died at age 80.
Parton's nephew, Brian Seaver, announced her death in a video posted to her Instagram account.
"My name is Brian Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I'm representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next," Seaver said in the video.
"This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven't truly felt it 'til now," Seaver continued.
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