South Carolina has two U.S. Senate seats. One of them is currently held by a woman nobody elected, who was handed the job in July, and who was asked on a debate stage this week whether the United States has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea.

She asked the moderator to repeat the question. Then she answered it.

"I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not that informed on national security, so — but I do support our military."

She added that national security "is not my thing, not my area of expertise."

Darline Graham has been a United States Senator since July 14. The runoff that decides whether she is on the November ballot is Tuesday, August 25.

How she got there

Graham was not elected to anything. Governor Henry McMaster appointed her to the seat left vacant by the death of her brother, Lindsey Graham, on July 11 — on President Trump's public recommendation. She had never held elected office and had never run for anything. Six days after being sworn in, she announced she was running for the full six-year term.

The debate in Newberry on August 18, co-moderated by Greta Van Susteren, was the only one scheduled before the runoff. Her opponent is U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman.

Why the Taiwan question isn't a gotcha

It's worth being precise about what she was asked, because "national security" can sound like a trick topic full of classified detail. It isn't what happened here.

Whether the United States has an interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea has been the stated position of every administration of both parties for decades. Taiwan makes most of the world's advanced computer chips. There is no version of this question that a senator gets to be surprised by.

Norman, standing next to her, answered it in a sentence: "What the president is doing right is he's enabling Taiwan to defend themselves against China, but it's peace through strength that he's showing." Agree with it or don't — he had an answer.

And this is not a hypothetical part of the job. A senator votes on arms sales, on defense authorization, on sanctions, on whether to keep funding a war. Graham has had a vote on every one of those since July 14.

What she has found time to be informed about

Graham says national security isn't her area. Here is what has been.

Her first bill was the SAVE Act — legislation that would make it harder for millions of American citizens to vote by requiring documentary proof of citizenship. She cosponsored it within days of arriving.

Her first big procedural move was to say she'd blow up the filibuster to pass it — the opposite of her late brother's long-held position, in the seat she was appointed to honor his legacy in.

Her first votes cut against the community she spent her career serving. Graham led South Carolina's Commission for the Blind and worked in state disability and workforce services. Then she got to the Senate and voted the other way on disability programs.

And within two weeks of launching her campaign, it had taken $24,000 more than federal law allows — the FEC told her so on August 17. She has also inherited her brother's leadership PAC along with his seat.

So the areas of expertise developed quickly. Voting restrictions: within days. Campaign money: within two weeks. Taiwan: not her thing.

The honest part is the problem

Give Graham this much — she did not bluff. Plenty of politicians would have produced forty seconds of "peace through strength" and moved on. She said out loud that she didn't know.

But a senator is not a candidate for a job she might grow into. She already has the job. She has had a vote on the Senate floor since July 14, and she will keep having one through January whatever happens on Tuesday. Saying "that's not my area" is a thing a nominee says at a hearing. It is not available to someone already casting the votes.

South Carolina Republicans go to the polls Tuesday, August 25. Trump held a rally for her in Myrtle Beach, Gov. McMaster endorsed her, and former Gov. Mark Sanford endorsed Norman instead.

Sources

• Darline Graham says she's "not that informed on national security" at debate — CBS News. Photo: AP.
• Graham, Norman clash in only scheduled debate before Senate primary runoff — WIS-TV
• Sen. Darline Graham avoids giving direct answer to national security question in S.C. debate: 'Not my thing' — PBS News