COLUMBIA, S.C. — Taking the stage of South Carolina’s largest and most important Republican Party fundraiser, Lindsey Graham is distracted. He’s on the phone.

South Carolina’s senior U.S. senator pauses, as if suddenly realizing where he is. He briefly interrupts the call to hold the phone triumphantly over his head.

“This is President Trump,” he says.

South Carolina’s race for governor in 2026 includes two statewide elected officials and two sitting members of Congress. Three of them are in the room. But they are overshadowed in an instant as Graham holds his phone to the mic and the crowd of more than 1,000 dressed-up Republican Party insiders lean forward in their seats to hear what Donald Trump has to say.

They know that, with just a few words, Trump can turn one of the nation’s mo

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