An Independent Public RecordFriday, July 31, 2026

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Tag

special election

8 entries across the record carry this tag. Browse all dispatches, or jump to a group below.

Dispatches

  • July 20, 2026 · Dispatch

    "South Carolina, I'm in": Russell Fry becomes the fourth Republican to enter the race for Lindsey Graham's Senate seat

    Rep. Russell Fry (SC-7) announced a bid for the U.S. Senate on X at 8:01 a.m. ET on July 20, 2026, becoming the fourth declared Republican in the special election for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat, joining Mark Lynch, Duke Buckner, and Rep. Ralph Norman. Fry, 41, unseated five-term incumbent Tom Rice in a 2022 primary after Rice voted to impeach President Trump; Trump has praised Fry as 'outstanding' but has not endorsed him, having already backed interim Sen. Darline Graham Nordone. Candidate filing does not open until noon Tuesday, July 21, so none of the four declared candidates, or anyone else, has filed yet. About an hour after Fry declared, Rep. Nancy Mace posted an objection to dual candidacies, writing that 'if you're running for two offices at once, you've already told us who you are' and that she 'will never hand Hakeem Jeffries that gift.' She named no one, but on the facts as they stand only Fry fits: he won his SC-7 primary on June 9 and is already the Republican nominee for that seat, so he would appear on the November ballot for both offices, while Norman did not file for House reelection after running for governor. Mace has still not announced a decision of her own.

  • July 20, 2026 · Dispatch

    "I'm not chasing another title, I'm chasing justice": Nancy Mace rules out the Senate race, and with it, public office

    On July 20, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace announced in a 64-second video on X that she will not enter the special election for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's Senate seat. 'I want to be straight with you. I'm not running for the US Senate, not because I'm backing down from a fight, but because the one I'm already in matters right now.' The announcement came three days after President Trump endorsed Graham's sister, interim Sen. Darline Graham Nordone, for the full term. Combined with her June 10 decision not to seek re-election to the House, Mace is now set to leave public office when her term ends in January 2027. This dispatch reproduces the video statement in full, verbatim, alongside the separate written statement she posted with it.

  • July 20, 2026 · Dispatch

    "If you're running for two offices at once, you've already told us who you are": Nancy Mace objects to sitting House members seeking the Senate, without naming Russell Fry

    Fifty-nine minutes after Rep. Russell Fry announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate on July 20, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace posted a standalone statement on X, without naming Fry: 'If you're running for two offices at once, you've already told us who you are. That's not about politics anymore - that's about power.' She grounded the objection in House math, warning that a sitting Republican House member who wins the Senate seat in November vacates his seat until next May, narrowing an already thin majority, and writing 'I will never hand Hakeem Jeffries that gift.' Mace is not on the November 2026 ballot herself: she lost the June 9 Republican gubernatorial primary, did not seek reelection to her House seat, and has said her House term ends in January 2027.

  • July 20, 2026 · Dispatch

    "I would be an idiot not to at least look at it": filing for Lindsey Graham's Senate seat opens Tuesday, and Nancy Mace has seven days

    Candidate filing for the special election to fill the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat opens Tuesday, July 21, 2026 and closes one week later, July 28. Rep. Ralph Norman formally entered the race July 18, defying President Trump's endorsement of interim Sen. Darline Graham Nordone. Businessman Mark Lynch has also declared. Rep. Nancy Mace has not filed, has not announced, and has not closed the door, telling Fox News on July 12, 'I would be an idiot not to at least look at it.' This dispatch catalogs the filing calendar, the interim appointment, Nordone's July 18 tribute letter to her brother, Trump's 'RUN, DARLINE, RUN!' endorsement, the Emerson College poll showing Mace at 10 percent, and her own July 12 statements verbatim.

Wiki & people

  • The 2026 South Carolina Senate Special Election

    Sen. Lindsey Graham died on July 11, 2026, opening a U.S. Senate seat that South Carolina will fill in a special election. Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham's sister, Darline Graham Nordone, as interim senator; President Trump has endorsed her for the full term. Candidate filing opens July 21 and closes July 28. Four Republicans have declared: Mark Lynch, Duke Buckner, Rep. Ralph Norman, and Rep. Russell Fry. Rep. Nancy Mace has not declared and is not on the November ballot; she ran for governor instead of seeking reelection and lost the June 9 Republican primary. This hub tracks the filing calendar, the declared field, published polling, and Mace's own dated statements as the story develops.

    July 20, 2026 · Wiki

  • Russell Fry

    U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 7th District who unseated an impeachment-vote Republican in 2022 and entered the 2026 special Senate race to succeed the late Lindsey Graham.

    July 20, 2026 · Wiki

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