Darline Graham loses late brother Lindsey’s South Carolina Senate seat in seismic defeat for Republicans as Democratic demolition takes shape

Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Republican Darline Graham in South Carolina’s US Senate race, winning a seat left vacant by the death of Graham’s brother, Lindsey Graham, in July. The result marks a major upset in a state Donald Trump won by 18 points in 2024, and ends a 28-year run without a Democrat winning a South Carolina Senate seat.

With 86 per cent of votes counted, Andrews had 51 per cent to Graham’s 47 per cent; major US networks projected Andrews the winner, and the Associated Press called the race later that evening. Trump backed Graham and campaigned for her, while Republicans committed $5 million as the contest tightened. Andrews, a surgeon who previously lost a 2022 House race, focused on affordability and economic issues; Graham faced criticism after saying national security was not her strength and expressing uncertainty about whether she wanted to be a senator.