Democrat Annie Andrews Wins South Carolina Senate Seat

Democrat Annie Andrews Wins South Carolina Senate Seat

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In a stunning political earthquake, Democrat Annie Andrews won the South Carolina Senate seat once held by the late Republican Lindsey Graham, defeating Darline Graham, in a race that defied the state’s staunch conservative identity. The outcome has sparked a fierce debate within the GOP about its future in the Deep South.

Let’s be clear what just happened. South Carolina, a state that voted for Trump by a margin of about 16 points in 2024, just sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. Annie Andrews, a Democratic challenger, defeated Darline Graham by a comfortable five-point margin.

The 500,000-Voter Gap

Tyson Grinstead put a fine point on it: From the 2024 presidential election to this year’s midterms, 500,000 people who voted simply didn’t come back. And of those, 400,000 were Republicans.

Annie Andrews will win South Carolina Senate race, flipping seat for Democrats, ABC News projects

Midterm elections almost always see lower turnout than presidential years, but this was different. More Black voters and other traditionally Democratic blocs showed up than expected, while a massive number of Republican voters stayed home. As Shane Brown, a Republican-leaning voter who didn’t cast a ballot, put it, Oh, text messages, phone calls, TV, you name it: it was everywhere. Like, the joke at work was the first person who stops texting me is the one we’d probably vote for. No one stopped texting. Nobody really won him over.

A Candidate Chosen, Not Elected

Darline Graham, a 62-year-old, was appointed by Republican Governor Henry McMaster in July to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term. When the president publicly urged her to run for the seat, she did.

I only voted Trump, honestly, because I couldn’t vote for Kamala because she was forced. We didn’t get a choice, Brown explained. That was my issue with Darline, too. It was the same exact thing to me … They selected her. The powers that be said: ‘This is the person you guys get to vote for.’ And that’s not the way it should be.

As Randal Wallace, a Republican commentator and former Myrtle Beach councilman, fumed, Norman does this little wink and nod, ‘Well, my family’s not going to vote for her,’ and then he called her a fraud. He sent a signal to everybody up there and to all of his people not to help her. And they didn’t.

Democrat Annie Andrews projected to win South Carolina Senate seat

The Money Gap That Wasn’t Close

The chaotic, sprint-style primary left her with only six or seven weeks to campaign, and the money was gone. Her brother, Lindsey Graham, had spent most of his campaign funds during the primary, assuming he could easily raise more for the general. He was wrong.

Annie Andrews raised $24.2m for her campaign. Graham raised only $1.9m. For context, South Carolinians have seen big spending before. In 2020, Jaime Harrison lit $130m on fire trying to beat Lindsey Graham, losing by 10 points. This time, there was no Lindsey Graham to raise money, Massey noted.

A Message to Washington, Not a Mandate for the Left

It’s crucial to understand what this election wasn’t. It wasn’t an embrace of the Democratic Party’s platform. South Carolinians remain a conservative lot, said state senator Shane Massey, majority leader of the Republican caucus in the South Carolina senate. But they were upset with how some elected officials handled their work.

The same voters who elected a Democratic senator also elected a Republican governor and lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general and other statewide offices. Voters, as Massey put it, expect their officials, Republican or Democrat, to address real problems rather than just screwing around.

Democrat Annie Andrews flips South Carolina Senate seat, defeats Darline Graham

The message was loudest in Berkeley County, one of the state’s fastest-growing areas. It voted for Trump by 16 points in 2024. On Tuesday, Andrews won it by nine points—a 26-point swing toward a Democrat and one of the largest shifts in the state. Part of that was driven by the congressional race, where retired admiral Nancy Lacore flipped a seat vacated by Nancy Mace, boosting Democratic turnout across the first congressional district.

I mean, something’s got to change. And I think with the Democrats finally taking over again, I think they’ll bring the prices down. They see what’s going on, and it’s not just South Carolina, it’s the world. I mean, let’s be real: why are we fighting over in Iran? Why are we in a war there? Still going on with the Middle East stuff, spending trillions of dollars for a war that’s not even ours.

Derek Rosado, a voter in Moncks Corner.

The question now is what comes next.

Annie Andrews Flips South Carolina: Major Democratic Gain As GOP Loses Senate Seat | Midterms 2026

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