South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham urged lawmakers to remain through recess and pass the SAVE America Act. She also called for the Senate to end the filibuster, saying Democrats would eventually make the same move. Her remarks drew attention because she linked that rules change to claims about noncitizen voting in New Jersey.
Graham shared the video in a post on X.
Graham opened by saying co-sponsoring the SAVE America Act was among her first actions in office. She questioned the month-long recess and said lawmakers should remain until the bill passes.
From there, Graham shifted to voter identification. She compared election rules with identification requirements for library books and alcohol purchases. Graham called voting without identification “absurd.”
She then claimed 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote in New Jersey. Graham also claimed several hundred later cast ballots. She did not identify a source for those figures during the remarks.
Graham closed by backing the filibuster’s elimination to advance the bill. She acknowledged that this position differed from her brother’s. However, she argued Democrats would eventually make the same move.
Darline Graham’s SAVE America Act Push Intensifies Filibuster Debate
Online debate quickly moved beyond the legislation itself, focusing on Graham’s experience and the consequences of changing Senate rules.
One X user challenged Graham’s experience, writing, “You’ve been a senator for 5 minutes. How about learn something before blindly following the criminal president.” Another invoked her brother’s position: “Your brother said that ending the filibuster would ‘blow up the Senate.’ You’re new here, you need different friends.”
Others focused on the bill’s potential effect on voting access. One response said, “Darline Graham will do anything Trump wants including disenfranchising women voters.” A separate user wrote, “SAVE would disenfranchise millions of married women who’ve changed their names, but never got a court order to do so. SAVE would deny them using marriage licenses as proof of name change. Millions wouldn’t be able to vote.”
Supporters argued that lawmakers should advance the measure. One wrote, “The filibuster and blue slips both need to go. They’re both used to cater to the lunatic left.” Another stated, “We need the legislation already passed by the house, pushed through the Senate and sent to the President. Making ‘phone calls’ and counting ‘votes’ isn’t leadership.”
Graham did not identify other senators who would support ending the filibuster for the bill. Whether the Senate will act before recess remains unclear.
