Fox News Star Leads In Key Senate Primary: Poll
Former Rep. Trey Gowdy remains the top choice among South Carolina Republicans to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, according to a new poll, even though the former congressman has shown no interest in returning to Washington.
A Peak Insights survey found Gowdy leading the Republican field ahead of the Aug. 11 special primary to determine the GOP nominee for Graham’s former Senate seat.
Gowdy, who represented South Carolina in the House from 2011 to 2019 before joining Fox News, captured 38% support in the poll.
“Trey would be an amazing senator for South Carolina,” GOP Sen. Tim Scott said recently, according to Fox News.
Rep. Ralph Norman finished a distant second with 13%, followed by Rep. Russell Fry and Sen. Darline Graham Nordone, who each received 9%.
Businessman Mark Lynch polled at 7%, while outgoing Rep. Nancy Mace drew 6%.
Nordone, Lindsey Graham’s sister, was appointed to serve the remainder of her brother’s Senate term after his death earlier this month. President Donald Trump has since endorsed her bid for a full six-year term.
The survey of 900 likely voters carried a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Pollsters also tested the race after informing respondents of Trump’s endorsement.
Even with the president’s backing, Gowdy remained the clear front-runner with 35% support. Nordone climbed to 16%, gaining seven percentage points to move into second place.
POLL: Should Barack And Michelle Obama Stay Out Of Politics?
Despite his strong showing, Gowdy is not expected to enter the race.
A representative for the former congressman said he “has not had any conversations about the open Senate seat and does not have any interest in it.”
Trump threw his full support behind Nordone in a recent Truth Social post, praising her and tying his endorsement to her late brother’s legacy.
“Lindsey was one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, and his sister shares his deep love of our Country, and the State of South Carolina,” Trump wrote.
Trump added that “there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey.”
“Darline, who comes from an absolutely incredible family, has been a WINNER all of her life and, should she accept, has my Complete and Total Endorsement in the Special Election for U.S. Senate in South Carolina,” Trump posted.
Trump Calls for Impeachment of “Outright Fraud” of a Democratic Senator
It appears that President Donald Trump spent at least part of his birthday watching Fox News Channel, as shortly after Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) appeared on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream to discuss President Trump’s seemingly imminent deal with Iran regarding reopening the Strait of Hormuz and attacked the president, Trump went nuclear in a post on Truth Social.
FoxNews analysis
As background, the president described what might be included in the deal in a post on Truth Social, saying, ” Barack Hussein Obama’s Deal with Iran, the JCPOA, was an easy, beautiful, smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon, which Iran would have had six years ago, and would have used long before now. My Agreement with Iran is the exact opposite, A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON! In fact, they no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement.”
He added, “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL. Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had. Unlike Obama’s Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in payments to them, including 1.7 Billion Dollars in green, cold cash, no money will exchange hands. At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains, thanks to our beautiful B-2 Bombers and their brilliant pilots, and downblend and destroy it, whether in Iran, or the United States. We look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future. Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly. If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!”
It was after he posted that commentary on the deal that Sen. Reed appeared on Bream’s program and attacked it, saying, that President Trump’s deal puts America in a “much worse position” than the one ex-President Barack Obama had made with the Iranian state years ago, and that getting out of it was a major mistake.
Doing so, the Senator said, “We are negotiating against a country which is leadership has been eliminated. Now we have even more fanatical leadership who has much more invested and much more to leverage their position… abandoning [Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] was a bad mistake by the president.”
Trump responded just hours later, attacking the Senator and saying, “Senator Jack Reed, a Dumocrat from R.I., lied when stating the the Deal we just made is not as good as the Obama disaster known as the JCPOA. Reed is either an outright fraud, or incompetent.”
FoxNews analysis
He added, commenting on how terrible the Obama deal was, “The Obuma Deal was a road to a Nuclear weapon for Iran, cash and all, one of the worst and dumbest (hence Dumocrats!) Deals ever made by the U.S. Our Deal is a WALL against Iran ever having a Nuclear weapon, the complete opposite of Obuma.” Concluding by calling for the Senator’s impeachment, he said, “Impeach Jack Reed!”
Trump also sounded off on Benjamin Netanyahu on Truth Social, saying, “This morning’s attack on Beirut should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran. Israel has the right to defend itself against threats, but the attack it was responding to was very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed, and should not disrupt this important process.”
He added, “We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should stand down. There should be no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon, but there should also be no more attacks by any other party, including Hezbollah, against Israel. This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace — Let’s not blow it! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP
‘Faith Leaders,’ Activists Arrested After Storming U.S. Senate Building
The hard-left in America continues to behave as though it is still the 1960s, a period in our history where chaotic “activism” and protests replaced traditional civil discourse and solutions-focused dialogue.
The most recent manifestation of this juvenile behavior occurred in the nation’s capital on Monday.
Bishop William Barber and several faith leaders were arrested during a demonstration inside the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
The group had sought to meet with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to express opposition to what they falsely described as voter suppression via the SAVE America Act, which has yet to pass the chamber.
Earlier in the day, Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and founder of the Moral Monday movement, held a news conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court, where he said faith leaders from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities were mobilizing around voting rights ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
With fewer than 100 days remaining before Election Day, Barber announced plans to organize 1,000 “Marches to the Polls” across the country to encourage early voting and broader participation in the Nov. 3 elections, reports said.
“We will cast a vision for a hundred days of mobilization,” Barber said.
“In this moment, we do not need to have a march on Washington. We need a march in the states to change Washington,” he added.
Repairers of the Breach organized a series of “public pulpit” events in Washington, D.C., throughout the summer.
Barber said the next phase of the effort would shift back to local communities, where faith leaders would focus on encouraging infrequent voters to participate in the election and educating them about legislation being considered in state legislatures, NCNewsline reported.
“The power is in the states. States can block your living wages,” he said.
“States can make [voter] suppression laws that we’ve already passed over 87 of them, particularly in southern states,” added Barber.
No state has passed any legislation that prevents anyone from voting if they are citizens.
Repairers of the Breach and its partner organizations said they are launching a voter outreach campaign aimed at contacting five million infrequent, low-wage voters and one million black male voters in the weeks leading up to the election.
The effort will rely on peer-to-peer text messaging and door-to-door canvassing to encourage voter participation, the outlet reported.
“We’re here because the ballot is sacred,” Rev. Dr. Hanna R. Broome told reporters on Monday.
Barber argued that the cost of the U.S. military campaign in Iran has become a significant concern for many voters.
Citing estimates that the conflict is costing approximately $1.5 billion per day, he said those resources could instead be directed toward addressing domestic priorities.
Barber also urged voters to pay attention to recent changes affecting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, more than 4.5 million people nationwide are no longer receiving SNAP benefits.
The organization also reported that SNAP enrollment in North Carolina declined by more than 12% between July 2025 and April 2026.
Beginning in October, states will be required to cover a portion of SNAP benefit costs for the first time.
The amount each state must contribute will be based on its SNAP payment error rate.
Republicans in Congress made changes to the SNAP program to weed out substantial waste, fraud, and abuse.
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