Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he will not seek South Carolina Senate seat tied to late Lindsey Graham

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he is not considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat associated with the late South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, telling the Washington Examiner that he will not enter the state’s expected primary to replace him. Bessent’s comments came in an interview published Tuesday, according to The Hill.

In the interview, Bessent said there would be a Republican primary in South Carolina and he would not be part of it. “There’s going to be a primary in South Carolina, and I will not be in it,” he said, according to the report.

The exchange also touched on how the seat’s succession could proceed, with Bessent emphasizing that the contest would occur at the state level rather than through any early national maneuvering. The Hill reported that Bessent later added that there was “...”, suggesting he continued to rule out seeking the nomination, though the full quotation was not included in the material provided to this desk.

Graham’s death has set off a question of who would seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat and how quickly potential candidates would line up for South Carolina voters. While the specific timetable and the nomination mechanics can depend on state party and election administration decisions, Bessent pointed to a primary as the central path for Republican contenders in the state, The Hill reported.

Bessent’s statement comes as he remains a senior member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet and has continued to hold executive-branch responsibilities at the Treasury Department. In the interview coverage, Bessent’s decision not to pursue the seat effectively rules him out as a candidate who could otherwise raise questions about the timing of federal personnel decisions during the run-up to a state nomination contest, without changing the underlying process for filling the vacancy.

The announcement is also likely to affect how Republican-aligned groups and local political actors in South Carolina frame the search for a candidate, since the field could be shaped by who is willing to step aside from federal posts or avoid potential conflicts of time and resources. Still, Bessent’s remarks do not address any other individual contenders or indicate which candidate, if any, other potential successors might already be preparing to pursue the nomination.

With Bessent now on record declining to seek the seat, attention is expected to shift to other figures considering the Republican primary path described by Bessent. The next developments would likely come from South Carolina election timelines and any candidate announcements that follow the formal opening of the succession process for Graham’s seat.