SOUTH CAROLINA — Dr. Annie Andrews will be the next U.S. Senator for South Carolina.
ABC declared Andrews the winner over Republican Sen. Darline Graham.
She becomes the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Palmetto State in nearly 20 years.
The race took an unexpected turn after the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham. His sister, Darline Graham, was appointed to temporarily fill his seat before seeking a full term.
Andrews, who had been campaigning for more than a year, reshaped her strategy to face a new opponent.
“And I know that the work ahead won’t be easy,” said Andrews Tuesday night. “But after 18 months and 4 counties and everything we’ve been through together, I’ve never been more certain of one thing: South Carolina’s best days are still ahead of us.”
Sen. Graham took the stage Tuesday night to thank her team and supporters for their work this election season, but that wasn’t enough.
Graham said she called Andrews and congratulated her on her win. She also thanked President Trump, who personally asked Graham to run for this seat.
President Trump campaigned twice in South Carolina last month asking voters to support Graham, but ultimately his base did not back Graham as much as it backed Trump in key places in 2024.
Graham said it is clear the party has work to do.
“Tonight was not what we expected,” Graham said. “It is clear that we as conservations have work to do and that work starts tonight.”
This loss means that for the first time in more than two decades, a Graham will no longer be in the Senate.
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Darline Graham
Sen. Darline Graham is hoping to win the seat held by her brother Lindsey Graham for more than two decades.
Typically, this would be easy to do in a solid red state. But Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews has provided some competition.
Darline Graham was appointed to fill the rest of her brother’s term when he passed away earlier this year.
Then President Donald Trump encouraged her to run for the full term, something she says she wanted to do to make her home state safer and stronger.
Annie Andrews, a Charleston-area pediatrician, filed to run before Lindsey Graham’s death.
She spent years working in children’s hospitals, and says what she saw families facing through her work in healthcare pushed her into politics.
Both have affordability as one of their top priorities.
“I’m all for a balanced budget amendment. I want to cut spending. I want to cut taxes. I want to bring jobs manufacturing back to this country,” Darline Graham said. “I want to lower taxes on the middle class. I’m the only one in this race that has released a taxpayer pledge to address the $40 trillion debt to lower taxes on the middle class to cut out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government.”
Annie Andrews
This race seems to be closer than a lot of people anticipated a few months ago.
There have been a lot of twists turns, the biggest being the unexpected death of the original Republican nominee Sen. Lindsey Graham, and his sister replacing him on the ballot.
In Charleston, the goal of the Andrews campaign has always been to unseat the Republican and become the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Palmetto State since 1998.
Her campaign focused on being a moderate voice that isn’t scared to break with her party in Washington for the betterment of the state.
She spoke to Channel 9 about that on Tuesday, and why she believes Graham would do the opposite.
“I was not recruited to run by my party,” she said. “My party isn’t funding me or writing my scripts. Unlike my opponent, who was very publicly handpicked by her party bosses to be in this seat and to be the nominee for this race.”
Sen. Darline Graham on the other hand ran for this seat after she was appointed to finish her brother’s tern in the Senate.
She says her goal is to continue his legacy. She says her record of working in state government for decades shows that she won’t shy away from working for South Carolina.
“I’ve been working for the people of South Carolina for thirty years,” she said. So, it was a way for me to continue serving. I use the word serve because that’s the way I see it.“
Regardless of what happens, history will be made in South Carolina Tuesday night.
Either candidate will be the first female U.S. Senator in South Carolina to be elected to the seat.