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On November 3rd, South Carolina Republicans are supposed to fall in line…at least that’s the plan, anyway. President Donald Trump has rallied here three times, the party’s gubernatorial nominee has put U.S. Senator Darline Graham on his bus, and the PAC-sponsored attack ads have been playing on repeat. But somewhere in the Upstate, a lifelong conservative named Avery Milton built a website asking Republicans to do the one thing party leaders never planned for…ignore their own nominee and write in Ralph Norman for the U.S. Senate seat.
Milton is the founder of Write In Ralph and we had an in-depth conversation with him ahead of election day. He spoke candidly with us, and reflected similar conversations we have had and observed over the past several months that should make every party leader in Columbia uncomfortable. “This race has no business being this close,” he said. “it’s only because the candidate is just that bad.”
Meet the Man Behind Write In Ralph
Avery Milton is the epitome of the conservative voter that serves the base of the South Carolina Republican Party. A native of South Carolina, he is a local business owner and identifies as a lifelong conservative who has exercised his right to vote in this state for over a decade. The issues that matter most to him? “…Ending the war, balancing the budget, and rooting out corruption.”
Milton made it clear that his problem isn’t really with Graham herself, but rather how she was propped up and installed as the Republican nominee. Milton pointed to the “institutional backing and heavy handedness behind one single candidate,” and told us that if Trump had stayed out of the primary, conservatives would have picked their own candidate. What they got instead, in his view, was the same old Lindsey Graham machine with a new first name on the yard signs.
“I think we are at a point where a lot of us are kind of done choosing the lesser of two evils,” Milton said. Even he has been “very surprised” by the momentum the effort has picked up, and by the fact that people are still talking about it this close to the election.
Grief, Pressure, and a Rubber Stamp
Unlike what many Graham supporters may assume, Avery doesn’t paint Graham as the villain. “Honestly, we don’t really know much about her, so I can’t tell you that she’s a bad person or has bad intentions,” he stated, candidly. “But I do really feel like she was taken advantage of.”
Milton echoed some of the words Darline Graham has stated over the past few days, in the final stretch of her election. He talked about how she admitted on the Charlie James Show and at Trump’s latest rally that she had no interest in running until Trump talked her into it. “They kind of took advantage of her at a time of loss and grief, because Trump basically wanted a rubber stamp and that was the best avenue he saw to get that.”
Governor Henry McMaster appointed Darline to her brother’s seat days after his sudden death in July, and a person familiar with the governor’s choice told the Associated Press he “had never contemplated that she would run.” Then Trump publicly urged her to go for a full term, saying that’s what Lindsey would have wanted. Since then, Graham herself has called campaigning “grueling” and “brutal”.
“The way I see her campaigning, her heart is just not in it,” Milton acknowledged.
The GOP Drags Darline Across the Finish Line
So who pushed her on South Carolina voters? Milton didn’t hesitate in his answer. He named Trump and the SCGOP establishment, much of which lined up behind Graham before the runoff even took place. He also called out the National Republican Senatorial Committee, chaired by our own U.S. Senator Tim Scott. “All the ads that were for Darline against Norman were very nasty,” he said. Graham barely won the August 25th runoff with 52% after millions in PAC money were spent against Norman.
And the machine hasn’t let up since. Trump recommended Darline’s appointment back on July 13th, and so did Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Trump rallied for her in Myrtle Beach before the runoff, then came back twice in October. To twist the knife, Trump held his last rally in Rock Hill, Ralph Norman’s hometown, in what was a clear attempt to pull Norman’s voters into Graham’s corner.
Next, we have Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Alan Wilson, who has Darline riding along on his bus tour. In Rock Hill, Wilson told republicans that the “family arguments” are over after the primaries. On Friday, Wilson, his father Congressman Joe Wilson, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp were scheduled to campaign with her in Batesburg-Leesville and Aiken County. U.S. Representative William Timmons has made his support for Darline clear since the beginning, snapping at Ralph Norman supporters for “attacking” her and “helping democrats” when they simply acknowledge that Darline never seemed to want this, and neither did they.
In Milton’s view, Wilson did a better job at reaching out to disaffected Republicans than Graham’s own campaign ever did. “Maybe if Darline would’ve tried to reach out to disgruntled voters it would be different, but the campaign never tried to bridge the gap.”
“All I Hear is National Talking Points”
In stark contrast, Milton pointed out that Darline’s democratic opponent, pediatrician Annie Andrews, is “going all kinds of places all over the state, talking to people,” and seems to speak from her own convictions. “But when Darline speaks, all I hear is national talking points.”
A perfect example of this is how Darline spent the middle of her final week. On October 28th, she was in Gaffney cutting a ribbon at First Solar’s new plant alongside Governor McMaster and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, while the Trump administration bragged about a $330 million investment. Graham called it a “vote of confidence in hardworking South Carolinians.”
First Solar’s Gaffney plant finished thin-film modules that originate from Malaysia and Vietnam. In 2024, the company disclosed that an audit had found forced labor at a Malaysian factory making parts for it.
In 2024, the AP called First Solar “perhaps the biggest beneficiary of an estimated $1 trillion” through Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a windfall shared by Democratic donors who had invested heavily in the company. When Republicans moved to cut green subsidies in 2025, First Solar lobbied to keep its Section 45X manufacturing credit, and it expects the Gaffney modules to qualify.
Of course, South Carolina taxpayers will foot the bill too…the Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits for this project. Last week, we watched the Trump administration (who campaigned against Biden’s green giveaways) celebrate the company who profited the most from them.
If you are an active follower of our work, you know how solar recruitment tends to go in this state. Palmetto State Watch Foundation’s Silfab series documented another failure of York County’s forced foreign solar projects that has done nothing but harmed local citizens, including the most recent hydrofluoric acid leak right next to Flint Hill Elementary.
A Coin Flip and The Scapegoat Already Picked Out
South Carolina hasn’t sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1998, and Trump carried the state by nearly 18 points just two years ago. This seat should be a lock, and was polled to be strongly Republican before the special senate primary. Now, many pollsters are calling the race a toss up. The most concerning poll for the Republican party is the NYT/Siana poll that was just released October 28th, showing Graham and Andrews in a deadlock at 48% each.
The problem is painfully obvious. The NYT/Siana poll found only 80% of Republicans backing Darline, compared to 97% of Democrats behind Andrews. “It’s really telling and shows how much they dropped the ball here and how unpopular a candidate she really is among Republican in the state,” Milton lamented.
A Citadel survey last week put Norman at 2% statewide and 4% in the Rock Hill TV market. With a race that is this tight, 2% could very likely be the decider between which party wins this seat, and Milton already knows who the establishment will place their blame.
“If Darline loses this, they’re definitely going to be pointing the finger at people who wrote in Ralph, but that’s totally not the case,” he explained. “You just can’t put the blame on us because we were never going to vote for her anyway.” Without the write-in, he argued, those voters would have voted for the Libertarian candidate (Kasie Whitner) or stayed home entirely, which would have hurt Republicans down the ballot in other statewide races like governor, commissioner, and secretary of state.
What has he heard from the Graham camp? “A lot of hate and vitriol…they don’t realize that a lot of us are voting Republican in other races.”
“We Would Like Our Voice to Be Heard”
So what’s the message Milton wants the Republican Party to hear? “We would like our voice to be heard loud and clear.” When voters feel the system has taken something away from them, he explained, they have a duty to make their own path.
“There’s huge problems within this party locally in the state and nationally that we need to address,” Milton said. “They claim they are thinking of the long game but really this is short sighted and not a long term winning strategy. The message they are putting out is not resonating, especially with younger conservative voters.”
The establishment picked this nominee, bankrolled her, flew in the president multiple times to drag her across the finish line, and is now gearing up to blame the very voters it never bothered to court if she falls short. Win or lose on Tuesday, Write In Ralph has already put something on the record that party leaders have refused to listen to…which is that a substantial portion of South Carolina republicans no longer trust the executive choosing their candidates.
I do appreciate your work. I am a strong supporter. My intention is not debate but only my personal persuasion.
Primaries are our battlegrounds. Free to do and say anything that is accurate for or against any candidate, policy, statements etc.
But general elections is perceived by many Republican friends that vote as ‘why the fighting within the party me’?
There is a clear D or R or L etc chosen party candidate. This isn’t a hill to die on.
I am truly a SC Trump MAGA Republican, not an independent, contrarian or Libertarian. So at this tense finish line when every vote counts for keeps, VOTE Trump and platform. Like it or not, Darline was supported and voted the primary winner. So I must support that decision. I will work smarter and harder in ‘28 primary starting Nov. 9 after a week of rest.
i’m also very disappointed in Mr. Norman and allowing this to develop. I strongly campaigned and voted for him in primary. Probably would not do that again now by dividing the party and the vote for Darline against any democrat platform candidate. That confuses a number of good republicans.
Again, thank you for your work.