South Carolina businessman Mark Lynch joins race for Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat

South Carolina businessman Mark Lynch joins race for Lindsey Graham's Senate seat

by: Andy Weber

Posted: Jul 29, 2026 / 01:30 PM EDT

Updated: Jul 29, 2026 / 01:30 PM EDT

SOUTH CAROLINA (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The field of candidates looking to fill the US Senate seat for South Carolina left vacant following the passing of Lindsey Graham continues to grow. That list now includes the man who challenged Graham in the June primary, Mark Lynch.

During a conversation with Chief Political Correspondent Andy Weber on Monday afternoon, Lynch said he was asked to run.

“People that know me in our community as a business leader in Greenville, and have known me with our United Patriots Alliance group, a political activist group. We’ve done a lot of work protecting the Second Amendment. Fighting the closure of the state during COVID and stopping the appointment of a health czar to bring back vaccine mandates again,” he said.

Lynch, who lost to Lindsey Graham by about 28 percentage points, argued he has a firm understanding of what voters want to see from their next US senator.

“The biggest issue, after over 200 presentations around the state and 35,000 miles of touring and our campaign for 15 months, is affordability, fighting inflation. People are struggling with their bills, their health insurance bills, electric bills, gas, and groceries. We have a major problem,” said Lynch