Trump visited Rock Hill, SC to campaign for Darline Graham after speaking at Clemson University less than two weeks before.
By Chase Duncan
Copy Editor
News
President Donald Trump told South Carolina voters to vote for Darline Graham and not for the “Dumbocrats” if they want the economy to stay as strong as it has been during his second term.
“Our economy is roaring, but if the Dumbocrats win they will burn it all down,” Trump said.
“It’ll end all those jobs. … income levels just came out, record setting income, individual income at a record setting level. Nobody’s ever seen those numbers.”
Hundreds of people waited in line outside the Rock Hill Sports & Events Center in the chilly autumn morning weather on Oct. 29 to hear Trump, along with other prominent conservative speakers, motivate South Carolinians to vote Republican for SC Senate.
The president told attendees at the event to put aside their personal disagreements with the Republican candidates and vote like his name is on the ballot, or as he puts it, “because I am on the ballot.”
“When I’m on the ballot, for whatever reason, 49.2% more people show up… All of these things we’ve done, all of these incredible successes… We’re not even that close to two years. There’s never been two years like this for any other president,” Trump said.
Graham spoke to the crowd before Trump came on stage to speak about why she is the right person to win South Carolina’s Senate and said that her Democrat opponent Annie Andrews is too radical for S.C.
“Annie Andrews isn’t running to serve you, and she’s certainly not running to represent South Carolina’s conservative values,” Graham said. “She’s running for celebrity status, drinking cocktails with the Hollywood and Washington liberals who are bankrolling her campaign. They’re just pouring tons of money into her.”
Graham said that she wants to take her love for her state and values to the United States Senate, where it is “desperately needed.”
“When I think of South Carolina, I think of three things: God, family and country… I am a proud conservative Christian who will fight every single day for your family. Democrat Annie Andrews is the most radical liberal candidate in the history of South Carolina. Like they say out in the country, she is just plain old batshit crazy,” Graham said.
Trump’s most pronounced reason for why voters should elect Graham is the economic development his administration has achieved by placing tariffs and bringing in international businesses, which she would continue to support if elected.
“Consumer spending is way up. Business investment is at record levels. Investment in new equipment exploded by 21%… you know why that is? It’s the tax credit you get under the great Big Beautiful Bill the businesses get. But even more important is because of the tariffs. Because all these companies are coming in, they’re flooding America.”
“You have the most number of jobs, people working than you’ve ever had. I could read a few of the numbers and just walk off the stage and say,‘Vote for Darline Graham, I’m leaving now’. I don’t have to waste a lot of time because after I give you some of the basic numbers, the rest is just fluff. The rest is just a little entertainment for you,” Trump said.
The president derided Andrews as a “vicious anti-gun radical” and referred to her stance on transgender issues by using the derogatory nickname “Tranny Annie.”
“Tranny Annie is a mutilizer, a rabid advocate for taxpayer funded child sexual mutilation… She is too crazy, too dangerous and too radical to serve in the United States Senate, and certainly not from this state,” Trump said.
Trump said the number one way to keep his administration’s agenda progressing as strongly as it has been is to vote for Graham, a choice that he believes will also make her late brother and former S.C. senator Lindsey Graham proud.
“If you want to keep this growth going, you must vote Republican and you must vote for a really amazing person, Darline Graham. …Your brother’s looking down, and he’s going to be Tuesday night. Let’s make Lindsay really happy and proud,” Trump said.
Near the end of his speech, Trump invited members of the Winthrop men’s golf team on stage to shake their hands and compliment them on being a “very good looking group.”
Cole Rouse, a junior finance major, was one of the players who went on stage with the president. He said he attended the event to support Trump and the Republican party ahead of the election.
“I thought Trump was great. I thought everyone that came before him was great too, really delivering a take home message to the voters before Tuesday,” Rouse said. “[Trump] was super cool, he’s an awesome guy, I shook his hand. Everything, the good things people say about him, is true.”
During the rally, students from various Winthrop clubs and organizations gathered at the intersection of Dave Lyle Boulevard and East White Street alongside local organizations to protest Trump’s appearance in Rock Hill. Counter-protesters carried handmade signs and graphics, and some gathered near the cemetery on West White Street across from the event.
Junior mass communication major Kenya Hines attended the Trump rally to write about it for one of her classes.
“It was very interesting, to say the least,” Hines said. “You see a lot from the outside and on the news, seeing it in the media, but actually being there to see it happen in real life, it’s very… it’s scary, I’m not gonna lie. It’s very scary to say the least, and I’m very worried.”
The president’s appearance in Rock Hill was one of the last of over 25 rallies he has held in October 2026, according to NPR.
