Trump may have endorsed Darline Graham, but GOP Senate hopefuls aren’t backing down

An endorsement used to end a primary before it started. Now it's just an opening bid. Trump backs Darline Graham, and instead of the field clearing out the way it usually does, Russell Fry and Ralph Norman jump in anyway. That tells you something about where things actually stand in South Carolina, and it's not a story about disloyalty. It's a story about ambitious guys who think they have a real shot and aren't willing to fold on someone else's say-so.

There's a version of this where we'd be annoyed watching a Trump pick get challenged. But Fry and Norman aren't exactly fringe names throwing tantrums. They're sitting members of Congress with their own records and their own bases back home, and they clearly read the map and decided the endorsement alone doesn't settle anything with voters who haven't made up their minds yet. That's not a crisis. That's a primary working the way primaries are supposed to work, even in a party that's gotten used to deference.

What this really tests is whether the Trump endorsement still carries the weight everyone assumes it does, or whether it's become one factor among several in a state with its own political culture and its own incumbents who don't scare easily. South Carolina Republicans have never been shy about picking their own fights.

If Graham wins anyway, the endorsement did its job. If she doesn't, that's useful information too, and pretending otherwise does nobody any favors.