Live updates: Trump to boost Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina ahead of next week’s GOP runoff

Step aside, “socialism.” Trump has seized on “communism” as his new favored line of attack against Democrats, having invoked the word more than 100 times since late June as he tries to rouse voters and preserve a narrow Republican congressional majority in the upcoming midterm elections.

A red menace that had its heyday when Trump was growing up in the 1950s has returned, in his telling, posing a threat to the nation’s core identity.

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Former Gov. Mark Sanford endorsed his former Senate GOP primary opponent in South Carolina, Rep. Ralph Norman, this morning, ahead of the Senate Republican primary runoff on Tuesday.

"Are there things on which I disagree with Ralph, absolutely. But again there are no carbon copies as candidates, and I have seen first hand his experience in legislative circles, matched by a conservative voting record and conservative stands," Sanford said in a post on X.

Sanford endorsed Norman over Sen. Darline Graham, whom he called “a good lady.” Sanford said his relationship to Graham’s late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, made him want to remain neutral in the race — before explaining why he felt he could not.

"As much as I would like to honor tradition and old friendships, the stakes are simply too high as our nation really is at a financial tipping point," Sanford said, referring to the crossing this week of the $40 trillion national debt threshold. "It’s for these reasons and more that I will be voting for Ralph on Tuesday and respectfully ask that you do the same."

Rep. Russell Fry, who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate seat in the special primary election earlier this month, endorsed Graham last week.

After an upset loss in Tuesday's Florida Democratic Senate primary, Alex Vindman in a post on X pledged to donate some of his campaign's remaining cash to fellow Democrats.

"Here in Florida, we have a governor’s race, and House races we need to win to take back the chamber, and of course the Senate race. So, my campaign has made a $400,000 contribution to the Florida Democratic Party," Vindman wrote. "And that is just the beginning. Over the course of the next few days and weeks, we are going to make more contributions to the places it will matter most."

Vindman’s campaign had over $7 million on hand as of July 29, according to his latest campaign finance filing.

He was widely expected to win the Democratic nominee spot in Tuesday's primary but lost to progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon. Nixon will face Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., in the general election.

Alex Vindman concedes Tuesday. Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., is set to hold a town hall this evening in Anderson, South Carolina, just before Trump will campaign with Norman's Senate GOP primary opponent, Sen. Darline Graham.

Today is the last day for early voting before the state holds the GOP primary runoff election on Tuesday.

Vice President JD Vance will travel to his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, today to deliver remarks about the Trump administration’s economic policies.

The event will take place at Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works, where Vance said yesterday that his grandfather worked for “nearly 40 years.”

"Plants like this wouldn’t exist were it not for some of the Trump administration’s economic policies," he said in an interview on "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show" yesterday.

He's also set to visit some Cincinnati chili restaurants to campaign with congressional candidates.

Trump will travel to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, this afternoon to campaign with GOP Sen. Darline Graham, days before the Senate GOP primary runoff election. Early voting for the race began Wednesday and ends today.

The president will deliver remarks at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

Graham is running in the runoff election on Tuesday, just weeks after she and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., advanced to it in the initial special primary election.

Attorneys for Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, have filed an emergency motion in an effort to block the Kennedy Center board from effectuating what it voted on last week — to add Trump’s name to the facade of the Kennedy Center and to close the center for two years for renovations — two things this court has already blocked the administration from doing.

“It’s déjà vu all over again,” attorney Nathaniel Zelinsky wrote, calling the latest renovation plans "a new and breathtaking act of defiance of Congress and of this Court."

Even before Tuesday night’s debate, Sen. Darline Graham has been fending off questions about her qualifications to replace her brother, the late Lindsey Graham, in the Senate.

But her performance at the debate brought a fresh round of questioning in South Carolina — a state with a proud military tradition and several key bases and installations — when she whiffed on a question about Taiwan and acknowledged that she doesn’t know much about national security.

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The USS Abraham Lincoln is on its way back home following an extended nine-month deployment, a U.S. official told NBC News.

The U.S. official said the ship has been sailing for a few days and is expected to arrive back in San Diego in a few weeks.

The Lincoln, which has been at sea for more than 250 days, has 5,000 sailors and Marines on board. The deployment has been marred by reports of deteriorating conditions.

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