Andrews Defeats Graham in South Carolina Senate Race

Annie Andrews won the U.S. Senate election in South Carolina on Tuesday, defeating incumbent Darline Graham. The result ends a 28-year streak of Republican control of the state’s Senate seats. Andrews is the first Democrat elected to the office in South Carolina since Fritz Hollings won his final term in 1998.

Graham had served as interim senator since the death of her brother, Lindsey Graham, earlier this year. The seat had been held by Republicans since Hollings left office in 2005. Andrews, a pediatrician, also becomes the first woman elected to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate.

The contest was marked by a shift in voter sentiment. Andrews benefited from national dissatisfaction with the Republican Party and President Donald Trump. Trump, a close ally of the late Lindsey Graham, endorsed and campaigned for Darline Graham. Despite that support, Graham struggled to overcome her status as a political novice after winning a contested primary against more established Republican candidates.

Andrews had been campaigning for more than a year before Lindsey Graham’s death forced her to adjust her strategy. She had won her primary outright initially. After the Republican primary runoff, she focused her campaign specifically on Graham. The two candidates met for one debate last month, where they exchanged criticism regarding the economy, the war with Iran, and artificial intelligence. Much of the debate focused on each candidate’s assertion that the other was unqualified for the seat.

Polling data from the New York Times and Siena College in October indicated a close race. This contrasted with the 2020 election, which also appeared tight in polls but resulted in Lindsey Graham winning by a 10-point margin. That 2020 race was the most expensive in the state’s history, with hundreds of millions of dollars spent by all sides.

Voters in the state expressed a desire for more deliberation in their choices. Brent Chaplin, a voter in Fort Mill, said he had always supported Republican candidates but could not vote for Graham. He said he hoped Andrews’ victory would serve as a wake-up call for the party. "You just can’t go and say, ‘I’m a Republican. I’m just going to vote Republican,’” Chaplin said. "You’ve got to put some brain power into it and think about it. So hopefully, it is a message to the powers that be to wake up, pick better candidates."

Only one Democrat currently represents South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives. That member is Jim Clyburn. The state’s Senate seats have been controlled by Republicans since 2005. Andrews’ victory marks a distinct change in the state’s legislative representation.