Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who campaigned on healthcare affordability, has won the race for US Senate in South Carolina, making her the first Democrat to represent the state in the Senate for over a quarter century.
Andrews had faced an uphill battle in what has been seen as a reliably Republican state against Darline Graham, the sister of the late Republican powerbroker Lindsey Graham.
“I think we just made some history,” Andrews said to exuberant supporters in Charleston on Tuesday night at her victory party. “South Carolina, you have shown the nation what is possible. You have shown the nation that in this era of partisan divides, of vitriol and name calling, in a politics dominated by billionaires and special interest groups and insiders in Washington DC, that we will not bow down, that we will not back down, and we will chart our own course.”
Andrews called her candidacy a defense of South Carolina against external forces. “Tonight we here in South Carolina sent a clear message that this Senate seat does not belong to one family, one party, or to Washington DC”
The 62-year-old Graham, who had been appointed by South Carolina governor to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term after he died in July aged 71, had been publicly urged to run for office by Donald Trump, who enthusiastically campaigned for her and denigrated her Democratic opponent, including referring to Andrews using a transphobic slur.
But Graham’s lack of national political experience – she admitted she was “not that informed on national security” when asked about US policy on Taiwan during a debate in August – is believed to have made the race more competitive.
The last time South Carolina elected a Democrat to the Senate was in 1998, but a New York Times/Siena poll the week before the election had the two candidates neck and neck, both polling at 48%.
Graham had stayed close to Trump in her platform, including saying she fully trusts Trump on tariffs and the war with Iran, which is deeply unpopular with a majority of Americans.
Andrews, in contrast, had called the war with Iran “illegal” and criticized its effect on gas prices. Andrews said in September she wanted to “find our way out of this illegal, unconstitutional billion-dollar-a-day war overseas”.
Andrews had tried to separate herself from other Democrats on several issues, and faced criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates for an ad she aired in the final month of the campaign, in which she referred to trans women as “biological men” and said she doesn’t “support and haven’t ever performed gender surgery for minors”.
In 2022, Andrews had referred to South Carolina’s Save Women’s Sports Act as “actively harmful”, and wrote on X, “I will always support trans youth.”
The election marks the first time South Carolina has elected a woman to the senate, nearly a century after Hattie Caraway of Arkansas became the first female US senator, in 1932. As of October, 15 US states still have never had a woman as a US senator, including several liberal northeastern states, including Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey and Vermont.
Graham’s candidacy had been marred by a kind of political infighting among Republicans that makes the Haley Stevens’s defection in Michigan look like a scuffed shoe. Outgoing US representative Ralph Norman pointedly refused to endorse Graham, describing her as unqualified for the role, and a write-in campaign for Norman emerged to tempt the arch-conservative’s voters.
Graham said during her concession speech that she owed a debt of gratitude to Trump for his endorsement and that the last few months had been difficult, referring both to her candidacy and the loss of her brother.
“I love this state with every fiber of my being, and I believe our state and nation’s best days are ahead of us,” Graham said. “I’ve run in a contentious primary and runoff extending into mid-August and now a general election. I will trade this all 1,000 times over to have my brother back, but God had a different plan. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am to have our party’s nominee and how hard our team fought, and I am so proud.”
Joseph Gedeo