Democrat Annie Andrews wins South Carolina Senate seat

Democrat Annie Andrews has won South Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, defeating Republican Sen. Darline Graham in an upset that gives the state its first elected Democratic senator since 1998. Andrews, a pediatrician, is also the first woman elected to the Senate from South Carolina.

The Associated Press called the race for Andrews, NPR reported. Her victory comes in a state President Donald Trump won by nearly 18 points in 2024 and gives Democrats a seat as they try to regain control of the Senate. They need a net gain of four seats to win a majority.

Graham was appointed in July to fill the seat left vacant by the death of her brother, longtime Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. The Guardian reported that Trump had urged her to run and campaigned for her. In the Senate, she opposed Democratic efforts to restrict Trump’s war powers and voted to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general, according to NPR.

Andrews put the cost of living and health care at the center of her campaign. She called for ending tax breaks for the wealthy, raising wages and making child care more affordable. She said her work treating children whose families struggled to pay for care helped draw her into politics.

“I would diagnose kids with common chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes,” Andrews told NPR, recalling parents who asked how much an inhaler or insulin would cost. “No parent in America should have to be thinking about their pocketbook when they’re hearing news that their child has a chronic illness.”

The candidates also differed sharply over the war with Iran. Graham said she fully trusted Trump on the war and tariffs, The Guardian reported. Andrews called the war “illegal” and criticized its effect on gas prices. In September, she said she wanted to “find our way out of this illegal, unconstitutional billion-dollar-a-day war overseas.” NPR reported that opposition to the war and Trump’s tariff policies, along with high energy prices, contributed to record-low approval ratings for the president in the weeks before the midterms.

Graham faced questions about her national security experience. Asked about U.S. policy toward Taiwan during a debate, she said, “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military,” according to the BBC. A New York Times/Siena poll conducted the week before the election put Andrews and Graham at 48% each, The Guardian reported.

Andrews also drew criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates over a late-campaign ad in which she referred to trans women as “biological men” and said she did not support, and had never performed, gender surgery for minors, according to The Guardian. The outlet reported that in 2022, she had called South Carolina’s Save Women’s Sports Act “actively harmful” and written, “I will always support trans youth.”

The South Carolina result follows another Democratic Senate win in North Carolina, where former Gov. Roy Cooper won his race, NPR reported.