JTA — South Carolina Senator Darline Graham and US House Representative Ralph Norman will advance to a special primary runoff in two weeks, when voters will decide which GOP candidate might take the vacant seat of the late Lindsey Graham.

Just over an hour after polls closed, at about 8:15 p.m. local time, the Associated Press declared that Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s younger sister, would advance to a runoff election. At that point Graham had secured 32.6% of the vote, with 39% of ballots counted. Around 45 minutes later, the AP announced that Norman had earned the second spot, with 24.3% of the vote and 81% of ballots counted.

“I decided to answer the call to serve because South Carolina and President Trump need a leader who’s tough, principled and will fight to advance our conservative values in Washington,” Graham told supporters on Tuesday night.

Graham and Norman were up against eight fellow Republicans, including US House Representative Russell Fry, who trailed behind them with 20.4% of the votes at the time the race was called. In South Carolina, primary contenders need to win a majority of votes in order to avoid a two-candidate runoff, now scheduled for August 25.

In the November general election, either Graham or Norman will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who is unlikely to prevail in the solidly Republican state.

Tuesday’s race marked the second time in two months that GOP voters came to the polls to select a Senate candidate, and now they will need to do so a third time. Longstanding senator Lindsey Graham, a top ally of Israel in the US Senate and supporter of military action against Iran. won the original primary in June but died suddenly from an aortic dissection........

© The Times of Israel