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Graham replacement hopefuls make final pitches before special election: Iran war, DSA, Flock cams and more

Graham replacement hopefuls make final pitches before special election: Iran war, DSA, Flock cams and more

Nine Republican candidates vying to permanently fill late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat spoke directly to voters Saturday at an event in Florence County, South Carolina, where they addressed the war with Iran, the rising tide of socialism in the Democratic Party and potential privacy concerns around Flock cameras. The event was hosted by Alan Wilson, South Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, who pitched the gathering as a kind of “speed dating,” since each candidate was given six minutes to address the crowd. The special Republican Senate primary is scheduled for Aug. 11, which made Saturday’s event one of the last chances for the candidates to make their closing arguments to voters. Here’s what they chose to focus on in their elevator pitches. REPUBLICANS DEFY TRUMP, JUMP INTO SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE RACE DESPITE HIS HANDPICKED SUCCESSOR Sen. Darline Graham, chosen to finish out her brother’s term after his death in July, was the last to speak but was quick to tell attendees she intended to earn their votes. “I’m not a politician. I never wanted to be a politician. But like Lindsey, I have a servant’s heart. I am a hard worker. And, yes, I have President Trump’s endorsement, but I know I have to earn your votes,” she said at the beginning of her speech. She emphasized that she was not a “DEI” candidate, hyping her experience running the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, a state agency with a $90 million budget and dozens of employees. “We help blind people and people with disabilities get jobs so that they don’t have to rely on the government. How is that DEI?” she said. TRUMP MAY HAVE ENDORSED DARLINE GRAHAM, BUT GOP SENATE HOPEFULS AREN’T BACKING DOWN She also made sure to highlight issues she and President Donald Trump agree on, including keeping transgender athletes out of female sports, standing with Israel, supporting voter ID through the SAVE Act and ending blanket birthright citizenship. Graham briefly touched on socialism within the Democratic Party, calling it a problem that has to be stopped. She also described Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as crazy. Her speech concluded by answering a question about Flock cameras, which can automatically read license plates and are being installed all over the country. “I need to look into that one because there’s two sides to that story. I know that some people are concerned about privacy and protecting their privacy, and I’m all for protecting the privacy of U.S. citizens. The other side of it is, if there’s an emergency situation that an ambulance can be called quicker and it can save lives,” Graham said.  “I’m going to be honest. That’s a hard one for me. So, I want to look into it a little bit more.” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., focused on his frustration with the Senate, calling it the place where “good bills go to die.” He proposed overhauling the Senate’s rules to get measures like the SAVE Act passed. “I will use my, whatever expertise I have, to go to the Senate and force the vote, whether it’s blowing up the filibuster or having a walking filibuster or getting with the parliamentarian and changing some of these stupid, arcane rules that the Senate has,” Norman said. The Senate filibuster allows a minority of senators to delay or block most legislation, effectively requiring 60 votes to advance a bill and making it harder for a narrow majority to enact its agenda. TRUMP’S VOTER ID BILL CATCHES UNLIKELY BREAK AS MCCONNELL REMAINS SIDELINED After his remarks, Norman was asked about the extent to which AI data centers should be regulated. He said the federal government should not have a role but appeared to disagree with Trump’s recent full-throated support of bringing data centers to communities around the country. “Do I think it’s bad for the community? Yes. Do I think it hurts the environment? Yes. And I will do whatever I can,” Norman said. The key takeaway from former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride’s speech is that he broke away from Trump’s position on the war with Iran. “Y’all, there is something we have to address if we’re going to win in November,” McBride said. “We need to end the war. We need to end the war now. “We just have to admit we’ve lost the war. We’ve lost this battle,” he continued. “Come home and regroup for another day.” He then addressed the crowd, saying, “There’s not one of y’all in here who voted for President Trump a year and a half ago because this is where you thought we would be.” RETIRED LT. COL. RUNNING FOR CONGRESS BACKS TRUMP IRAN STRATEGY: ‘HE’S ENDING A 47-YEAR CONFLICT’ Sam Shepherd, an engineer, inventor and entrepreneur, took the opposite approach to McBride, claiming he is “more conservative than Trump.” Shepherd cast himself as someone who has the skills to fix complex issues within the bureaucracy and the military. He also took a moment to one-up Elon Musk, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, arguing he had more patents than the Tesla billionaire. “I’ve actually authored more patents than Elon Musk. I have 44. I’m asking for you to bring common sense back to the government,” Shepherd said. Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., spent much of his speech tying the affordability issues Americans are facing to “onerous regulations.” “We see this on farms. We see this in every manner of our government. Regulations strangle us,” he said. “You’ve got to get government out of the way if we’re going to solve this affordability crisis.” In response to a question about how he would secure the border if elected, Fry started off by attacking former President Joe Biden’s work ethic and praising Trump’s. “You actually have to have a president who’s awake for more than four hours a day, right? We went from a president who slept for 20 and was awake for four, to a president who is awake for 20 and sleeps for four,” Fry said.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to what the Senate did and didn’t do overnight

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to what the Senate did and didn’t do overnight

The Senate wrapped up its summer session at 4:57 a.m. ET. Senators knocked two major items off their checklist. They confirmed Todd Blanche as the nation’s 88th attorney general.  They also approved a bipartisan interim spending bill that likely goes a long way toward preventing a government shutdown in October. But nearly as important as what senators accomplished is what didn’t get done. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: SUMMER ENDS, BUT THE SENATE’S FALL CRUNCH BEGINS The Senate did not stay in session and attempt to pass the SAVE America Act.  In fact, there was not even procedural stunting by the pro-SAVE America Act Republicans, who advocated blowing up the August recess. TRUMP PUMPS BRAKES ON SENATE BUDGET PLAN, DELAYING GOP SAVE AMERICA PUSH Moreover, the Senate did not take a vote on a budget framework that could enable them to eventually tack on some election integrity measures and pass them at a later date in a bill not subject to a filibuster. Expect some conservatives to rail against the Senate for not working this out.  The SAVE America Act continues to lack votes. However, advocates of the bill can use the decision by the Senate to leave town without passing it as an opportunity to apply pressure on its opponents. That said, the Senate did take a test vote on a more narrow voter ID bill backed by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. The Senate blocked that bill.  But the test vote got Democrats on the record for opposing it. And giving Husted a vote on his measure was a tactical move to boost his chances in a competitive race this fall against former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. The Senate did not take a test vote on the bipartisan bill to regulate money for intercollegiate athletics despite the endorsement by the Big 10 and SEC.  PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT STALLS IN OVERNIGHT SENATE SHOWDOWN, VOTE PUSHED TO SEPTEMBER AFTER CHAOTIC EVENING In fact, President Trump even implored the Senate to stay in session in August to pass the bill authored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the panel.  The legislation was beset by an internecine fight among Republicans about whether the legislation kept men from competing in women’s sports.  The president published a full-throated endorsement of the legislation Friday night, declaring that the measure did go far enough.  “Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying,” the President wrote on Truth Social.  In an overnight statement, Cruz said the bill was still in play. “The good news is that when the Senate returns in September, the Protect College Sports Act will be one of our first orders of business having locked in a vote,” Cruz said. However, no vote is officially secured on the Senate docket. But what about a test vote on a bill to regulate cryptocurrency? It was thought that the Senate might pursue that bill in the closing days of the summer session. But the differences were just too wide to close.  However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up a procedural vote on cryptocurrency for Sept. 15.

Joe Biden’s cancer has spread further, leaving him in ‘very painful’ condition, Hunter reveals

Joe Biden’s cancer has spread further, leaving him in ‘very painful’ condition, Hunter reveals

Former President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has spread and is causing him significant pain, his son Hunter Biden revealed during a Friday interview. “The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further,” Hunter Biden told the BBC in an interview that aired Friday. “It’s very painful, and it’s very debilitating in many respects. “It’s really sad to watch,” Hunter Biden said. “The only thing that I’d say about my dad, about his health right now, is I wish he would complain more, because it’s not good.” Despite his poor health, Hunter Biden said his father is “still doing his thing,” attending speaking engagements. HUNTER BIDEN CLAIMS UNDER OATH THAT HIS FAMILY IS BROKE AMID FIGHT OVER $17M LEGAL BILL Joe Biden revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis in May 2025, just months after he departed the Oval Office. The diagnosis at the time was that the cancer was Stage 4, “aggressive” and had already spread to his bones. He received a Gleason score of 9, indicating both the cancer’s aggressive nature and the potential that he had been living with it for years. WATCH: WOULD-BE SECOND-TERM PRESIDENT BIDEN LEFT SEARCHING FOR FAMILY ON STAGE AFTER OBAMA CENTER OPENING “He had it while he was president,” said Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, vice provost and oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania, adding Joe Biden “probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. “He did not develop it in the last 100 to 200 days,” Emanuel said, according to the American Journal of Medical Care. Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, previously told the hosts of ABC’s “The View” that his cancer has slowed him down. “He keeps his schedule, but he’s slowed down,” she said in June. “I mean, Stage 4 cancer is — and he’s 83 — so, I think the mix of everything and the medications that he’s taken has made life a little more difficult these days.” Fox News Digital contacted the Office of Joe and Jill Biden for further comment. Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.