President Donald Trump warned rallygoers in Rock Hill, South Carolina, that the president’s political party typically doesn’t “win” during midterm elections — apparently preparing supporters for a possibly disappointing outcome for Republicans less than a week before Election Day.

“When I’m not on the ballot the midterms … there’s something strange because, if you’re president, Republican or Democrat, for whatever reason, you don’t win the midterms,” he said.

Trump went on to say he has been working hard to rally support for Republican candidates, adding, “No president has ever worked so hard on a midterm.”

Trump was in South Carolina in a last-ditch effort to rally support for Sen. Darline Graham ahead of the high-stakes election that could determine control of the Senate. It was his third time in three months stumping for Graham in the state. Some Republican supporters who spoke to MS NOW at Trump’s earlier South Carolina rally appeared unsure or unenthusiastic about Graham’s candidacy, with some saying they supported her primarily because Trump did.

Graham was appointed to temporarily fill the Senate seat after the sudden death of her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. With Trump’s full-throated endorsement, Graham won the GOP special Senate runoff election to permanently replace him in August. Trump has prioritized maintaining Republican strongholds this election cycle, including South Carolina, amid his historically low approval ratings.

“Darlene Graham has devoted her entire life to the people of this state, and now she’s running to save you from a radical left lunatic,” Trump said, referring to Graham’s opponent, Democrat Annie Andrews. The president repeatedly used a transphobic slur to describe Andrews, a term he has continued using throughout his campaign tour.

“I didn’t come up with that name,” Trump said of the slur. “I’m good with names.”

Trump urged every member of the crowd to vote for Graham, and, as he has repeated over the last few months, to “pretend I’m on the ballot.” Graham has been neck and neck with Andrews, holding a razor-thin lead of 1 percentage point, according to an MS NOW/FiftyPlusOne polling average.

“You know, she’s leading but I had to come here,” Trump said of Graham’s slight lead. “Politics, you never know, right? So you’ve got to get out and vote.”

Trump’s speech was interrupted multiple times by protesters, who were quickly ushered out of the venue. Undeterred, he then said without evidence that the protesters were “paid,” calling them “losers.”

Graham, who has never held elected office, struggled on the campaign trail. In her first debate in August, she struggled to answer a question about Taiwan and said that she was “not that informed on national security.” But on Thursday, Graham spoke fervently from the podium in defense of Trump’s agenda, opposing abortion and gun control and supporting hawkish immigration policies. Graham also touted her brief voting record in the Senate in lockstep with other Trump-aligned Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Tim Scott, R-S.C.; and Mike Lee, R-Utah.

“I am a proud conservative Christian, who will fight every single day for your family,” Graham said. “Or Democrat Annie Andrews, the most radical liberal candidate ever to run for office in the history of South Carolina — like they say in the country, ‘She’s just plain ole batshit crazy.’”

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