GOP Digest — July 29, 2026 | Rhoden Routs Doeden 71-29 as Senate Advances Graham Sanctions Bill

Republicans open Wednesday with a clean primary win in the West, a bipartisan sanctions package moving in Graham's name, and a Senate oversight showdown years in the making.

Today's Digest

• [PRIMARIES] — Larry Rhoden routs Toby Doeden in South Dakota's first-ever gubernatorial runoff: Gov. Larry Rhoden took 71 percent to Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden's 29 percent Tuesday night, according to the South Dakota Secretary of State, and the Associated Press called the race minutes after polls closed. Rhoden had trailed with 25 percent in the June 2 primary to Doeden's 31 percent — short of the 35 percent needed to win outright — and made up the ground in seven weeks. Doeden conceded in a speech to supporters in Aberdeen, called Rhoden to concede, and posted that the governor has his "FULL SUPPORT heading into November." Rhoden faces Democrat Dan Ahlers in the November general election.
• [SOUTH CAROLINA] — Nine-candidate field locked in for the Aug. 11 special Senate primary: Nine candidates are on the ballot to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham after the state GOP disqualified three filers, with Sen. Darline Graham, Rep. Russell Fry, Rep. Ralph Norman and former Gov. Mark Sanford carrying the highest name recognition. Danny Ford II and Darius Mitchell were cut for failing to vote in two of the last three statewide primaries, and Clark Neilson over a Charlotte, N.C. address. Early voting runs Aug. 5–7 ahead of the Aug. 11 primary, and with a field this size a runoff is the likely outcome.
• [SENATE FLOOR] — Senate advances the Russia and Iran sanctions bill named for Lindsey Graham: With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy overlooking the Senate floor — he met with senators just ahead of the vote — the Senate on Tuesday night overwhelmingly cleared a procedural vote on the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which has more than 60 cosponsors and is set up for final passage later this week. The package imposes primary and secondary sanctions on Russian officials and oligarchs, banks and financial institutions, and the Russian shadow fleet, and extends Iran sanctions set to expire this year through 2031. The House is out until Aug. 31, so it will not reach President Trump's desk before then.
• [OVERSIGHT] — Rand Paul gets Fauci under subpoena today: Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, who released more than 1,100 pages of Fauci's personal journal entries covering December 2019 through December 2022, plus a 465-page collection of earlier records and emails. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it took about eight months to dig the files out of 11 separate servers before handing them to Paul and Sen. Ron Johnson. Fauci's spokesperson has circulated a document fact-checking Paul's claims, and a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden shields him from prosecution.
• [SOUTH CAROLINA] — Joint Base Charleston to be renamed for Graham: An Air Force official confirmed to the Associated Press that Joint Base Charleston will be renamed in honor of the late senator, who served in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves from 1984 until retiring as a colonel in June 2015. Graham died July 11 from a tear in his aorta, according to preliminary medical examination findings, and is being laid to rest Wednesday in Pickens County. Details of the renaming remain unclear.

On the Record

"We've probably never ever seen people so completely at odds with their private thoughts, and then publicly proclaiming the opposite of what they were truly saying in private."

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), to reporters Tuesday on the Fauci journals