President Donald Trump’s endorsement power earned two more victories on Tuesday night, as Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) and Oklahoma Republican Mike Mazzei each won their competitive and much-anticipated primary races.
The 2026 Republican primary season has been laced with tests of Trump’s endorsement power as the president has chosen to weigh in on GOP races and actively play his hand in the midterm elections. His results have been somewhat mixed, with some notable losses in gubernatorial races in states such as Georgia and Iowa, but significant wins in hotly watched congressional races in states such as Kentucky and Louisiana.
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Tuesday night produced a strong outcome for the power of Trump’s nod on both the congressional and gubernatorial side of the ballot. Graham Nordone secured her win over Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) in South Carolina’s special GOP Senate primary, winning by 4.9 percentage points, while Mazzei toppled Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond in the state’s GOP gubernatorial runoff race by a 0.6 percentage point margin.
Both Mazzei and Graham Nordone were in neck-and-neck margins in the lead up to their runoffs, with Trump’s endorsement poised to make a tangible impact in the vote results. Mazzei’s runoff election, in particular, was a bellwether test for Trump on election day, as his opponent, Drummond, ran on an anti-tariff agenda. In his victory speech, Mazzei thanked Trump for helping his campaign “across the finish line.”
“He had 38,000 Republicans on the line with me yesterday,” Mazzei told his crowd of supporters, referring to a tele-rally Trump hosted for him. “Many of you enjoyed that.”
Along with his election-eve tele-rally for Mazzei, Trump’s Make America Great Again Inc. Super PAC poured almost $828,000 into Graham Nordone’s bid to replace her brother, late Sen. Lindsey Graham, in the upper chamber in the home stretch of her race.
The president celebrated the wins Wednesday morning, saying: “I supported and ENDORSED two so-called “underdogs” yesterday, one from South Carolina, and the other from Oklahoma, and they BOTH WON. Two great people!!!”
Trump’s boost also seemingly helped carry Graham Nordone over the finish line, as her margin of victory over Norman outperformed poll expectations that had her in a razor-thin margin against or trailing Norman. Mazzei’s polls also showed a neck-and-neck race, with the latest poll showing an even race.
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Graham Nordone will now take on Democratic nominee and doctor Annie Andrews in the general election, while Mazzei will face off against Democratic state Rep. Cyndi Munson.
Both South Carolina’s Senate seat and Oklahoma’s governor’s seat are deemed solidly Republican seats by election forecasters.
