COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina voters face a more competitive U.S. Senate ballot than usual after Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death in July, with appointed Republican Sen. Darline Graham facing Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
National Republican groups have shifted large sums into the state for Graham, and President Donald Trump plans an Upstate campaign stop next week meant to lift turnout in counties she lost during the special primary and runoff.
Graham, who once led the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, was named by Gov. Henry McMaster and later won a crowded special primary before defeating former Rep. Ralph Norman by roughly 5 points in a late August runoff after Trump backed her. A grassroots write-in drive for Norman remains part of the November picture.
Andrews has raised millions, well below the $140 million Jaime Harrison collected in 2020 but enough that Democratic strategists call the race newly competitive. Winthrop University pollster Scott Huffmon said anger over living costs can help Democrats without promising a flip in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide since 2006.
Graham’s campaign said two fundraising entities brought in $2.4 million across the final two months of the third quarter, after the Senate Leadership Fund spent about $5 million on her side. Constitution Party candidate Mark Hackett and Libertarian Kasie Whitener also appear on the ballot, and Democrat Catherine Fleming Bruce is running as a write-in. The Trump stop is set for Wednesday evening in the Upstate college town near Graham’s Central hometown.
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