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Trey Gowdy to replace Lindsey Graham? Political pundit's pitch after Senator's death draws MAGA ire; ‘terrible choices’
Lindsey Graham the Senator from South Carolina died at the age of 71, on Saturday night, giving rise to the need for a successor before the midterm elections.
Trey Gowdy's name has been pitched as a possible successor to Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Senator who died suddenly at the age of 71, on Saturday night. Graham's seat needs to have a successor to finish out the term, before the midterm elections where he was supposed to go up against Democratic candidate Annie Andrews in November.
South Carolina Republican Governor Henry McMaster can name a replacement for the rest of Graham's term. As per the state's election law, a special primary election will then have to be called. While President Donald Trump already suggested that he has a candidate in mind the individual was not publicly named. Amidst this, political pundit James V. Lacy has suggested that Gowdy would be a good replacement.
Lacy served in the Ronald Reagan administration and describes himself as a conservative activist. “Trey Gowdy is a great choice for the Senate by South Carolina’s Governor as a result of the untimely passing of Lindsay Graham. Appointing a sitting Congressman would threaten the House majority, and Trey would be an 'adult in the room' in the Senate," he wrote on X.
However, many MAGA supporters did not take very kindly to the idea of Gowdy taking up Graham's seat. Pino Americano, a MAGA page with over 117K followers, wrote “Anyone pushing Nikki Haley or Trey Gowdy for anything under any circumstance gets an immediate block for life.”
Mila Joy, another MAGA activist, wrote “For the record, Trey Gowdy or Nicki Haley would be TERRIBLE choices to replace Lindsey Graham.”
Meanwhile, Lacy's suggestion was also met with enthusiasm from some quarters. A podcaster remarked “Temporarily doing Trey Gowdy until November’s election would be a good way of handling the Senate with somebody who knows what’s going on because they’ve been there for years and does not want to continue to do it in in 2027.”
Who is Trey Gowdy?
Harold Watson "Trey" Gowdy III is an an American television news presenter, former federal prosecutor and former politician. He was the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 4th congressional district from 2011 to 2019. Gowdy is married to Terri Gowdy and has two children Abigail Gowdy and Watson Gowdy.
His net worth is estimated to be $200,000, as per Ballotpedia.
As per Fortune, others apart from Gowdy who could replace Graham were Nancy Mace, former Governor Nikki Haley, and Ralph Norman. Meanwhile, Representative Joe Wilson ruled himself out of the running to replace Graham. He announced via a social media post that he had ‘assured’ Trump over a call that his ‘goal is to remain in the House to keep his two-vote majority.’
