CHARLESTON, S.C. – Avery Milton thought she was a big supporter of President Donald Trump. The 28-year-old from South Carolina had voted for Trump in the past three elections, believing in Trump’s promise to put America first. But ahead of the midterm elections, the president feels betrayed.
“He stabbed us in the back during his second term,” Milton told Al Jazeera.
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Milton’s disillusionment was not isolated. He said many people close to him share this frustration, especially young conservatives his age who are starting families and entering the workforce. After campaigning on a promise to avoid another war, President Trump’s initiation of war against Iran was a particular breaking point.
Milton is now helping lead a grassroots effort to elect Republican Ralph Norman to the Senate, rather than supporting Sen. Darling Graham, the party’s candidate backed by Trump.
A write-in candidate is someone whose name does not appear on the ballot, but voters can choose by writing their name themselves. This option is often used to express dissatisfaction with the official candidate, but it almost never leads to victory. One such rare victory occurred in 2010, when Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who lost that year’s Republican primary, launched a write-in campaign and won.
In the 2022 South Carolina Senate race, write-in votes accounted for just 0.1% of the total votes cast.
Despite the president’s support, Mr. Graham has struggled to rally conservative voters to support him, potentially giving Democratic challenger Annie Andrews a chance in a state that hasn’t had a Democrat in the Senate since 1998.
Darling’s unlikely path to Republican Senate nomination
Following the sudden death of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 11, his sister Darling will serve out the remainder of his term.
Her appointment followed the tradition of a deceased member’s successor being succeeded by a family member, most commonly his or her spouse. However, she made history as the first sibling appointed to fill a vacancy in the Senate.
Graham initially described the role as an opportunity to finish up his brother’s work in the remaining months of his term. But days later, President Trump urged her to run for her full six-year term, posting, “Run, Darline, run!” At Truth Social, he promised his “full and total support” if she entered the race. Three days later, Graham announced on Fox News that he was running for office.
For some Republicans, the transition from temporary appointment to full term came too soon. Milton said he felt the appointment effectively “installed” the candidate.
Graham defeated Republican Ralph Norman in the state primary in August.
Mr. Norman, who represents South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, has repeatedly refused to campaign with Mr. Graham since losing the primary. He made it clear that he had limited support for Mr. Graham.
“You have to get the votes. She’s not doing that,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “The purpose of an election campaign is to support a candidate.”
Tensions were particularly evident in upstate South Carolina, where Mr. Norman enjoys considerable support. Mr. Milton said Mr. Graham had done little during the campaign to reach out to voters in the country, aside from private dinners and appearances with Mr. Trump.
“She (Graham) never tried to reach out to ordinary people here in the North, and that speaks volumes about how the Republican establishment here in South Carolina feels about grassroots conservatives. They just don’t care,” Milton said.
Frustrated by his inability to represent grassroots conservatives, Milton helped launch the Write-In Ralph movement, building a website and providing a public platform for the campaign.
Milton said he and other supporters want senators who think independently, rather than simply aligning themselves with party leadership.
“We don’t necessarily want someone who is a rubber stamp on everything,” he said, adding that he wants someone who is willing to “think about all sides of an issue and policy.”
Independent Representative from South Carolina
A sizable group of South Carolina voters are not affiliated with either major party.
The state does not register voters by party, but a New York Times/Siena poll conducted in October suggested that 30 percent of likely voters identify as independent. Among these voters, Democratic Senate candidate Andrews had a 20-point lead over Graham.
The findings point to a potential blind spot for the Republican Party, which is trying to consolidate support around President Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition.
John Connolly, a 77-year-old retiree in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, is an example of a voter whose political allegiances have shifted over time. He sees Graham’s appointment as part of a political culture that values loyalty over experience.
“I see her as just a puppet,” he told Al Jazeera. “Whenever asked, nod yes.”
Leila Ali, a regional elections advisor who has worked with grassroots organizations across the American South for more than a decade, said political strategists often underestimate the diversity of the southern electorate.
“The biggest thing people misunderstand is that they think the southern vote is monolithic,” she told Al Jazeera.
Ali cited South Carolina’s early voting numbers as evidence of that involvement. Nearly 950,000 early votes were cast in the state, setting a new record for early voting in a midterm election, according to the state Board of Elections.
Senate race becoming increasingly close
As the Nov. 3 election approaches, the stakes of this race are becoming increasingly clear.
Even though Trump won the state by about 18 percentage points in 2024, he visited the state twice in three months to campaign for Graham, a sign of the president’s extraordinary visibility.
And polls show the race is far more competitive than Republicans expected. A New York Times/Siena College poll in October found Graham and Democratic challenger Annie Andrews tied at 48 percent among likely voters.
For Democrats, the split offers a rare breakthrough in deep red states where the party has struggled to compete.
Even if the race is close, Republicans like Mr. Milton are willing to risk a Democratic victory by writing Ralph Norman on their ballots. And if Mr. Graham loses, Mr. Milton says, the blame should not be on the write-in effort.
“They’re going to try to blame this write-in Ralph movement,” he said. “But let me be clear: that would be assuming that our votes would have gone to Darling anyway, which is not the case.”
