Trump Team Reportedly Irate Over Nancy Mace Floating Her Name as a Graham Replacement: ‘All We Want is a Republican Who is Sane’

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Trump White House reportedly fumed when Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) touted herself as a candidate to take over Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) Senate seat hours after his death, with one top official saying they would prefer someone “sane.”

As news of Graham’s sudden death sent shockwaves around the world on Sunday morning, Mace posted a video of Al Pacino’s classic line, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,” from The Godfather Part III.

A top Trump official told Axios on Monday that Trump — a close friend of Graham — was already not a fan of Mace, but “putting herself out as a candidate while everyone was absorbing the news of Lindsey’s death was in poor taste, even for Mace.”

“If Mace ends up in a runoff, we’ll drop $2 million on her head to keep her out,” another official told the outlet. “All we want is a Republican who is sane and can work with the White House.

Aside from that, CNN data guru Harry Enten broke down Mace’s Senate potential — and it was pretty bleak.

“Despite being well known nationally, at this point anyway, the people who are putting their money where their mouths are don’t give Nancy Mace much of a chance to win that nomination,” Enten said on Monday.

Mace, who was voted into Congress in 2020, suffered a blowout loss in the South Carolina gubernatorial primary in June after Trump backed the state’s lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette.

Mace ended up finishing fifth.

Trump put his weight behind Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to fill his seat as interim senator, saying in a Truth Social post, “I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina. This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”

A short time later, Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) also voiced support for Graham Nordone to take over her brother’s seat.

“Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, would be a fantastic pick to serve out the remainder of the senate term,” Scott wrote in an X post. “After speaking with Darline, there is no one better who understands Lindsey’s love for family, our state, and our country.”

Graham, 71, died on Saturday night after a “brief and sudden illness,” according to his office.

By Sunday morning, the Republican’s cause of death was determined to be “aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”

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