A U.S. Senate race in one of the nation’s most Republican states is now a stalemate, according to a new poll showing Annie Andrews, a Democrat, tied with Darline Graham, the incumbent Republican senator.
South Carolina hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998, and Donald Trump won it by nearly 18 points in 2024, but a New York Times/Siena poll this week puts the two candidates neck and neck at 48% each.
Graham was appointed to the seat after the death of her brother, Lindsey Graham, in July, and she entered the race at Trump’s urging without ever having held elected office.
Her inexperience became one of the defining aspects of the campaign, which culminated in an August debate when she admitted that she was “not very knowledgeable about national security” when asked about U.S. policy on Taiwan. In the poll, 51 percent of voters said she lacked the experience to be an effective senator.
Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician, has meanwhile built his campaign around his medical career. His solution to improving access to doctors and driving up medical bills was to advocate for a public option and cheaper prescription drugs.
But she has kept her distance from the left flank of the Democratic Party, saying she does not support the universal health care model proposed by Medicare for All, while acknowledging that Democrats have failed at the border and refusing to name a national Democrat with whom she would like to campaign. This speech seems to work with independents, who support her over Graham by 57% to 37%.
Graham, on the other hand, relies heavily on Trump’s support. She opposes abortion rights and has said she trusts Trump completely on tariffs and the war with Iran. On immigration, she argued that anyone in the country illegally should be deported “immediately.”
Trump visited the state last week to rally behind Graham in a 90-minute speech, calling Andrews extreme and prompting repeated interruptions from protesters. He returns again on Thursday.
Republicans are spending heavily in South Carolina, despite their long-standing electoral dominance in the state. The party establishment is also not entirely united: One Republican congressman, Ralph Norman, who lost in the runoff to Graham, said he would not campaign for her.
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Other recent polls show a similarly close contest, although most have Graham narrowly ahead. A South Carolina Policy Council survey this month gave Graham a one-point lead, within his margin of error. That same poll showed how far Andrews was ahead of his own party — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jermaine Johnson trailed Republican Alan Wilson by 10 points.
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