Election 2026LiveSenate54 Dem · 44 Rep · 2 to callHouse254 Dem · 162 Rep · 19 to callGovernors28 Dem · 20 Rep · 2 to callUpdated 09:07 ET · AP race calls
ABRAnews Three sides to every story.
US Politics

Democrat Annie Andrews wins South Carolina Senate race over Trump-backed Republican

Pediatrician Andrews beat Sen. Darline Graham, appointed after the death of her brother Lindsey, in the state's first Democratic Senate win since 1998.

10 news outlets reported this
Liberal6 outletsWhy Republicans lost, and what Andrews does nextCenter2 outletsA history-making win and Andrews's first wordsConservative2 outletsAndrews's Schumer stance and Graham's national security gaffe
Published 3 min read
Overview

South Carolina voters on Tuesday elected Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, to the US . She defeated Republican Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to the seat after her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, died suddenly in July. President Trump had encouraged Darline Graham to run for a full six-year term.

South Carolina had not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1998. According to The Guardian, her margin was five points, and Republicans won the governor's office and other statewide offices by similar margins. Tyson Grinstead, the Republican national committeeman for South Carolina, said 500,000 people who voted in 2024 did not vote this time, 400,000 of them Republicans.

Semafor reports, citing Andrews's campaign, that an internal poll on Oct. 5 showed her three points ahead and was not released. Andrews arrives in the Senate in January. She told a local TV station her top priority is stopping cuts.

She told Fox News it is time for "generational change" in Senate leadership on both sides.

Key figures
  • five-point Andrews's margin of victory, per The Guardian — The Guardian (US)
  • $24.2m raised by Andrews's campaign, per The Guardian — The Guardian (US)
  • $1.9m raised by Graham's campaign, per The Guardian — The Guardian (US)
  • 500,000 2024 voters who did not vote in the midterm, per Republican committeeman Tyson Grinstead — The Guardian (US)
  • 400,000 of those 500,000 who were Republicans, per Grinstead — The Guardian (US)

Three sides of the story

Liberal6 outlets

Why Republicans lost, and what Andrews does next

HuffPost calls Graham's loss "possibly the biggest self-inflicted wound to Republicans of the ." It notes Trump talked her into running. It says Ralph Norman, whom she beat in the August runoff, refused to join her on the trail and took no step to halt his supporters' write-in push.

Semafor tells how Andrews began spending more than $5 million on ads once Graham won the nomination. It quotes former Republican Gov. Mark Sanford calling the result "a Waterloo moment for Trump." The Guardian asks how Republicans lost the seat and looks to turnout, quoting Tyson Grinstead on the 500,000 voters who did not return.

It also quotes Shane Massey, a Republican state senator, who calls the win "primarily a rejection of the alternative." Mother Jones looks ahead, saying Andrews ran on fixing healthcare and quoting her on Medicaid: "That's my number one priority: to stop these Medicaid budget cuts."

Center2 outlets

A history-making win and Andrews's first words

Roll Call lists Andrews among the "history-makers" of the 120th . It says she is South Carolina's first woman elected to the Senate, and that her opponent, appointed Republican Sen. Darline Graham, was the state's first female senator. The roundup spans Senate, House and governor winners of both parties, from Peggy Flanagan to Byron Donalds.

The Hill's two items follow Andrews after the win. One has the newly elected senator saying her focus will be on "delivering results" and not a "retribution tour." The other describes her victory as "stunning" in deep red South Carolina and quotes her telling Fox News anchor Bret Baier that it is "time for a generational change on both sides of the aisle."

Conservative2 outlets

Andrews's Schumer stance and Graham's national security gaffe

The Washington Examiner leads with Andrews's stance on Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. It says she remains against his keeping the role and reports that nine of 11 freshman senators elected Tuesday have shown hesitancy or opposition. It quotes her saying "People need real leadership in Washington, D.C." and notes she has framed herself as more centrist.

It also quotes Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse defending Schumer: "Schumer delivering a Democratic Senate certainly justifies another term as leader." Townhall calls Andrews's win "an epic upset" and centers on Graham's debate answer, "I'm not that informed on national security." It calls that "a disqualifying answer" and says Andrews, "to the 's horror," seems to have good political instincts.

It reprints Semafor's account of her internal poll showing a three-point lead.

What a side did not mention
  • Conservative outlets did not mentionPresident Trump encouraged Darline Graham to run for a full term after her brother's death. Reported by HuffPost, The Guardian (US), Semafor
  • Centrist outlets did not mentionAndrews raised more than $24 million for her campaign while Graham raised under $2 million. Reported by Semafor, The Guardian (US)
Where outlets disagree
  • Andrews's campaign fundraising total
All sources: 12 articles from 10 outlets

Liberal (7)

Center (3)

Conservative (2)

Related
US Politics · Elections 2026

Democrats win the US House and Senate in midterm elections

Democrats also took the Georgia and Ohio governor's races and flipped a South Carolina Senate seat, according to Vox, The Atlantic and The New Republic.

9 news outlets reported this
3 min
Senate

The upper chamber of Congress: 100 senators, two per state, elected for six years. It confirms judges and ministers and approves treaties.

All terms →
Medicaid

Public health coverage for people with low incomes, paid by the federal government and the states. The rules differ by state.

All terms →
Midterm elections

US elections halfway through a president's four-year term. The whole House, a third of the Senate and many governors are elected. In 2026 Election Day is November 3.

All terms →
Congress

The US parliament: the Senate and the House of Representatives. A bill becomes law when both pass it and the president signs it.

All terms →
GOP

“Grand Old Party”: a nickname for the Republican Party, used since the 1870s. GOP and Republican mean the same thing.

All terms →