The Palmetto State will allow primary voters to decide Graham’s successor. Maine, on the other hand, is letting a party convention choose Graham Platner’s replacement.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, right, accompanied by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaks to reporters Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Columbia, South Carolina.
(Michelle Liu/AP) THE sudden death of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a former Republican “maverick” who has abandoned most of his pretensions in favor of independent political thought serving the presidency of Donald Trumpshook up the politics of the state and nation he served for 32 years at the state and federal level.
Graham was such an enduring figure on Capitol Hill that his unexpected death prompted a steady stream of reflections Sunday on the complex legacy of a conservative foreign policy hawk who once warned the Republicans“If we nominate Donald Trump, we will be destroyed…and we deserve it,” but ended up stating years later“Donald J. Trump, in my opinion, is the greatest president of all time.”
Yet American politics is changing at a rapid pace, and the reaction to Graham’s death at the age of 71 was instantly accompanied by speculation over who would succeed the four-term senator, who was up for re-election in November. Under South Carolina law, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will quickly choose an interim appointee to fill Graham’s term that ends in January. But the actual selection of a successor will be made – as it should be – by the people of South Carolina.
South Carolina is now one of two states in the 2026 election cycle where supporters must select a new Senate candidate and mount a campaign in November that could decide control of the chamber. The other is Maine, where Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner filed the documents on Friday to officially end his candidacy, in response to a number of controversies, including an allegation of assault by a former girlfriend, which Platner denies.
Under Maine law, Platner had to file these documents by 5 a.m. p.m. July 13. In doing so, he created a position that must be filled by July 27. But Maine statutes do not specify how a party-line vacancy should be filled. The state’s Democratic leaders therefore tinkered a process that begins with county caucuses on July 18 and 19 and then leaves the final choice to a convention where just 601 delegates — including 101 party committee members — will decide who will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Maine Democratic leaders promise they will maintain “a public and open process.” But critics associated with the Maine Coalition for Fair Appointments have complained about party members “rushing this process in a way that results in a loss of trust.”
Current number
Compare Maine with South Carolina, where state law provides a much more democratic process.
South Carolina law demands that a real primary take place to replace Graham. Republicans who want to succeed the senator will have July 21-28 to apply for a place on the ballot. A special Republican primary election will then be held on August 11. If no candidate receives a majority of the primary votes, a runoff on August 25 will settle the matter. The participation rate will probably be high because, as the Ballotpedia site points out Remarks“In South Carolina, primaries are open, meaning any voter can participate in any party’s primary.”
There you have it: South Carolina has a fast, rules-based process designed to maximize participation. A large field of Republican candidates prepares to choose the Republican who will oppose the impressive Democratic candidate, Dr Annie Andrewsin a contest that commentator Chuck Todd describes as “a generational opportunity” to appoint a new senator in a state where congressional turnover is rare.
Maine’s model is not comparable to South Carolina’s approach.
To be clear here, the responsibility does not lie entirely with the leaders of the Maine Democratic Party. They must follow a state law that, when it was written, failed to anticipate circumstances like the one that developed, and that leaves Mainers with fewer options, including a much narrower window to fill that empty spot on the November ballot. It’s also important to note that Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson and other party leaders have used social media platforms to keep Mainers informed and promote participation in the process.
But South Carolina’s model simply seems superior from a Democratic perspective — so superior that states across the country should consider adopting it as part of a much broader and highly needed reform of how Senate vacancies are filled.
This reform dynamic should go beyond the primaries.
According to the U.S. Constitution, all vacancies in the House of Representatives must be filled by special election. In other words, no one is allowed to serve in the House without first facing voters in a general election. And, in the vast majority of states, these general House elections are preceded by primaries.
But it’s not the same for the Senate.
Although the Senate is supposed to be elected, since 1913 governors have interpreted a vague section of the Constitution’s 17th Amendment (which established the direct election of senators) as allowing them to fill vacancies by appointment.
Popular “Swipe left below to see more authors”Swipe →
Thus, many senators, including those currently in office, have served part of their mandate without ever facing voters. These unelected senators cast critical votes on issues of war and peace, taxation and spending, and the scope and character of the federal government. Often, their closing votes make the difference in determining whether an issue is addressed or neglected.
While chairing the Constitutional Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 2000s, Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold propose a constitutional amendment to prohibit the appointment of senators and require that all vacancies be filled by voters, as opposed to governors and party members.
“People deserve to have a voice in choosing the senators who represent them in Washington,” Feingold said. “The constitutional amendment I proposed requiring the direct election of all senators is the best way to give them that voice.”
Feingold was right. But his proposal did not find success with a Senate hostile to change. Now that attention is once again focused on Senate vacancies, it would be a good time to renew Feingold’s push for an amendment and to work at the state level to ensure that voters, rather than party leaders, can choose their nominees for open Senate seats.
This is what democracy should look like.
John Nichols John Nichols is the editor-in-chief of The nation. He was previously the magazine’s national affairs correspondent and Washington correspondent. Nichols has written, co-authored or edited more than a dozen books on topics ranging from the history of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyzes of American and global media systems. His latest, co-written with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It’s okay to be angry at capitalism.
