SC GOP Postpones Aug. 21 Senate Runoff Event as Trump Plans Myrtle Beach Rally

Q: With early voting already underway, can organizers successfully reschedule the crucial candidate stump stop before the August 25 deadline?

Yes, but only within a very narrow window, and there is no guarantee it will still matter much to voters. The Anderson County stump stop was postponed from Friday, Aug. 21, because Trump is expected to rally in Myrtle Beach that day and party leaders want both Darline Graham and Ralph Norman present. With the runoff on Tuesday, Aug. 25, the only realistic rescheduling options are late Aug. 21 after the rally, the weekend of Aug. 22–23, or Monday, Aug. 24. That makes logistics difficult. Both candidates are in the final stretch of a statewide runoff, and the party has said it will announce a new date only if one is finalized. Early voting in Anderson County runs Aug. 19–21 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 301 N. Main St., meaning a sizable share of voters could cast ballots before any replacement event occurs. Even if organizers do secure a new date, the event’s influence may be reduced because voting will already be underway and the compressed calendar leaves little time for promotion, travel, and turnout. A Monday event, for example, would come just one day before Election Day. So the party can still reschedule the stump stop before Aug. 25, but the odds of it serving as a crucial voter forum are lower than they were before the postponement. Its value now depends less on whether it happens at all and more on how quickly the SCGOP can lock in both candidates and alert voters.

3 articles · Updated · wpde.com · Aug 18

South Carolina Republicans delayed a U.S. Senate runoff stump stop set for Aug. 21 at the Anderson County Civic Center after Donald Trump scheduled a Myrtle Beach rally the same day.
The party said the conflict would have prevented one of the two runoff candidates from appearing, and Chairman Drew McKissick said SCGOP would not hold the event unless both could participate.
Darline Graham and Ralph Norman are competing in the Republican Senate runoff on Aug. 25, with party officials now trying to find a new date and location for the candidate forum.
Trump has already endorsed Graham, making his Grand Strand appearance a notable late intervention days before South Carolina Republicans choose their nominee.