Sunrise in Rock Hill isn’t normally so crowded. But then, the president of the United States doesn’t live here. So people are lined up, dozens deep, even before the sky turns fully blue this Thursday morning.
President Donald Trump is in town to stump for Darline Graham, the Republican Party’s candidate for a U.S. Senate seat, and who’s in a razor-thin race with her Democrat challenger Annie Andrews.
Supporters early to the scene outside the Rock Hill Sports & Events Center funnel past a small cottage industry of vendors selling Trump merch.
Robert -- no last name given -- shows off his wares. There are Trump hats. Trump pins. Trump buttons with Thursday’s date on them.
“They got the date and the ‘I was here,’” he says. “I call them alibi buttons.”
It’s a festive atmosphere at 8 a.m.; unusually festive for this complex, where President Donald Trump will talk a few hours later. Downing Riley, owner of Everbowl, an acai bowl and smoothie place in this complex, noticed. He figured he would open before his usual 9 a.m.
And it’s been paying off.
“I got a couple people just came through here,” he says. “They got some oatmeal, so that was fun.”
Fun seems to be the watchword of the day. The atmosphere is light and celebratory. Everywhere are Trump T-shirts, Trump sweaters, Trum headwear.
But if there is any merch, gear, or accessories here to show support for Graham -- for whose sake this rally is happening to begin with -- it’s nowhere near as apparent. Supporters all over this complex say they are here to support Trump. When asked about Graham, none tell me they are voting specifically for her.
Terry Pennington, a Trump supporter dressed as a garbage can, because: “Remember what Hillary Clinton called us? Deplorable garbage.” He can’t vote in South Carolina because he lives in North Carolina. But his answer to questions about what he thinks of Darline Graham mirror those I get from several other Trump rallygoers speaking on background.
“I don't believe in everything the Republican Party does,” Pennington says. “I ain't for all the Republicans. But I ain't for none of the damn Democrats. Excuse my language.”
Michael Curcio drove up from Florence at 3 a.m. to be here to show his support for Trump. Of Graham, he says: “She’s Lindsey's sister. According to her, the two of them are pretty close, so I'm expecting that she's going to follow in Lindsey's footsteps. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.”
Is he going to vote for Graham?
“I’m probably going to vote straight Republican,” he says. “Right or wrong, this is who [Trump] supports. So I think another way to throw support his way is by working with the candidates that he thinks are good.”
While Graham does attend the rally, one notable absence is U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-5th, the candidate Graham beat in the GOP primaries in August to get the party’s Senate nomination. Rock Hill is Norman’s hometown, and has a hefty percentage of voters who backed his Senate and South Carolina gubernatorial bids.
Norman has stated that Graham is not the best candidate for him; that even though he has pledged to back her in solidarity with the conservative movement, his family will not. His son, Warren, has endorsed Annie Andrews.
A spokesperson for Norman’s office said Thursday that the congressman was working in Washington this morning, and isn’t paying too much attention to the president’s visit to Rock Hill.