Avery Milton Leads South Carolina Write-In Campaign Against Darline Graham
A 28-year-old conservative organizer is urging voters to bypass the Trump-endorsed Senate nominee in favor of a defeated primary contender, as early voting records surge in the state.
By Chioma Brooks ·
Avery Milton, a 28-year-old South Carolina native, spent the past three elections voting for Donald Trump. Now, he is leading a grassroots effort to do the opposite on the ballot. Milton is organizing supporters to write in Ralph Norman, a Republican congressman, for the U.S. Senate seat instead of choosing Darline Graham, the party nominee who holds the president's endorsement.
Milton describes his shift in loyalty as a reaction to perceived betrayal during Trump's second term. He cited the president's decision to launch a conflict with Iran as a breaking point, noting that Trump had campaigned on a promise to avoid new wars. For Milton, who represents a cohort of younger conservatives entering the workforce and starting families, the gap between campaign rhetoric and executive action has grown too wide to ignore.
The write-in strategy rests on a specific definition of voter choice. A write-in candidate does not appear on the official ballot, requiring voters to manually add their name. While such candidates rarely win, the 2010 election of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski serves as a historical precedent. In South Carolina, the mechanics of the vote have historically favored established candidates. In the 2022 Senate race, write-in votes constituted only 0.1 percent of the total count.
Graham's path to the general election began with a sudden vacancy. Following the death of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, on July 11, Darline Graham was appointed to finish his term. She became the first sibling to fill a Senate vacancy under this tradition. Initially, she framed the role as a temporary measure to complete her brother's work. Days later, however, Trump posted a demand for her to run for a full six-year term on Truth Social, promising his total endorsement. Graham announced her candidacy on Fox News three days after that post.
Critics argue the transition from appointment to full-term campaign occurred too rapidly. Milton believes the process effectively installed a candidate before the party could vet options. Graham defeated Norman in the August primary. Since then, Norman has kept a distance, declining to campaign alongside his former opponent. He told The Wall Street Journal that Graham has not yet earned the vote, describing the campaign as an effort to prop up a candidate.
The tension is most visible in Upstate South Carolina, Norman's home territory. Milton says Graham has made few public appearances in the region, relying instead on private dinners and events alongside Trump. He views this lack of outreach as a sign that the state GOP establishment prioritizes its own interests over grassroots conservatives. The Write-In Ralph movement, which Milton helped build with a dedicated website, aims to give those voters a visible alternative.
Supporters of the write-in effort want a senator who thinks independently rather than acting as a rubber stamp for party leadership. Milton emphasized that they desire a legislator who considers multiple sides of policy issues. This sentiment aligns with data on the state's electorate. A New York Times/Siena College poll from October found that 30 percent of likely voters identify as independents. Among that group, Democratic challenger Annie Andrews led Graham by 20 percentage points.
The race has become more competitive than expected. Trump visited South Carolina twice in three months to campaign for Graham, a level of attention unusual for a midterms. Despite winning the state by nearly 18 percentage points in 2024, the president faces a tight contest. The same October poll showed Graham and Andrews tied at 48 percent among likely voters. Leila Ali, a regional campaign adviser, noted that strategists often underestimate the diversity of the Southern vote. Nearly 950,000 early votes have been cast in the state, setting a record for a midterm election.
As the November 3 election approaches, the split in the Republican base presents a risk and an opportunity. Democrats see a rare opening in a state that has not elected a Senate Democrat since 1998. Milton acknowledges the risk of a Democratic victory. He argues that if Graham loses, the blame should not fall on the write-in effort. He stated that critics will point to the movement, but that assumes the write-in votes would have gone to Graham anyway. He insists that is not the case.
