2024 Republican Party presidential primaries

Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign confirmed it produced the controversial ad featuring Dr. Amy Acton's long-estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who calls her daughter "a liar." The campaign is spending $4 million to run the ad statewide and has declined to pull it despite bipartisan condemnation. Acton's brother says the siblings were removed from their mother's custody as children after their stepfather was indicted for raping Acton between ages 9 and 12. Gov. Mike DeWine called the ad "deeply, deeply troubling" and urged Ramaswamy to take it down while keeping his endorsement; Sen. Jon Husted and former Rep. Jim Renacci also criticized it, warning of a GOP backlash. VP JD Vance dismissed the outcry as "whining," and President Trump defended Ramaswamy, calling the mother's hostility "unusual." Acton leads polling in a race drawing over $120 million in outside spending.

Sen. Darline Graham defeated Rep. Ralph Norman 52% to 48% in South Carolina's Republican runoff for the Senate seat held by her brother Lindsey Graham for 23 years before his death in July. Gov. Henry McMaster had appointed her to fill the seat temporarily, and President Trump endorsed her bid for a full term, holding a tele-rally and headlining a Myrtle Beach rally while directing more than $800,000 from his super PAC, MAGA Inc., toward her campaign. Norman, a five-term congressman who largely self-funded his campaign and drew roughly $700,000 in outside spending tied to Nikki Haley, conceded but noted lingering bitterness among his supporters over Trump's involvement. Graham had weathered criticism after admitting during an August debate she was "not that informed on national security," shifting her campaign's focus to domestic issues and her brother's legacy. She now advances to face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, in the November 3 general election for the seat, considered a safe Republican hold.

The result, alongside a narrow Trump-backed win in Oklahoma's gubernatorial runoff, reinforces the president's continued sway in GOP primaries despite recent Trump-endorsed losses elsewhere, including Wyoming and Florida.