A sitting Republican member of Congress privately vented frustration over the party’s prospects in deep-red South Carolina, according to text messages shared Thursday by a NewsNation correspondent.
NewsNation’s Joe Khalil posted a screenshot of the messages on X, describing them as a “brutal assessment” from a GOP lawmaker about the party’s own chances in the Palmetto State. The lawmaker was not identified.
“Republicans won this seat by 18 points,” the congressman wrote. “The fact it’s this close and the speaker has to come to SC 1 to drag the R across the finish line is embarrassing.”
The lawmaker added that the closeness of the contest was “f—ing embarrassing” and suggested the state’s U.S. Senate race was dragging down Republicans further down the ballot.
The only bright spot, according to the congressman, was the governor’s race, which the lawmaker said was where it should be.
The texts landed as both President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson made late campaign stops in South Carolina. Trump held a rally in Rock Hill on Thursday, his second in the state in as many weeks, while Johnson is set to headline a get-out-the-vote rally Saturday morning in Goose Creek for Jenny Costa Honeycutt, the Republican nominee in the 1st Congressional District.
The Lowcountry seat, which includes Charleston and Hilton Head Island, is open this cycle after Rep. Nancy Mace vacated it. Honeycutt, a Charleston County Council member, faces Democrat Nancy Lacore, a retired Navy admiral who has outraised Republicans and held an early spending advantage. Democrats last flipped the district in 2018.
At the top of the ticket, Republican Sen. Darline Graham is in a dead heat with Democrat Annie Andrews. Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, is running for the seat her brother held for decades.
A New York Times/Siena poll released Oct. 28 found the two candidates tied at 48% apiece. A separate poll from The Citadel, released the same day, showed Graham with a four-point lead, 43% to 39%, with 15% of voters still undecided.
Trump carried South Carolina by 18 points in 2024, and Republicans have poured millions of dollars into Graham’s race to head off a potential upset. Andrews is seeking to become the state’s first Democratic U.S. senator in more than two decades.
Graham’s candidacy has drawn criticism from some within her own party. Rep. Ralph Norman, who lost to the Trump-backed Graham in the GOP primary runoff, questioned the president’s decision to campaign in Rock Hill given the number of competitive races elsewhere in the country.
In the governor’s race, Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson holds a comfortable lead over Democrat Jermaine Johnson. A South Carolina Policy Council poll conducted Oct. 16-25 showed Wilson ahead 51% to 41%.
Speaker Johnson, meanwhile, has projected confidence, saying Thursday on “Fox & Friends” that the polls would prove “historically wrong” on Election Day.
Early voting in South Carolina ends Saturday, Oct. 31. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
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