COLUMBIA, S.C. — A U.S. Senate seat that Republicans long treated as safe in South Carolina is heading into Tuesday as one of the closest-watched races in the country.
Sen. Darline Graham, a first-time candidate, was appointed to the seat after her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, died of a torn aorta this summer, and she then chose to seek a full six-year term. She faces Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews, a well-funded pediatrician who ran for Congress four years ago. Constitution Party candidate Mark Hackett and Libertarian Kasie Whitener are also on the ballot.
Statewide polling in the closing weeks showed Graham and Andrews essentially even, and national handicappers moved the race toward toss-up territory, even as the same surveys suggested Republicans such as governor nominee Alan Wilson were holding steady.
The money followed. Millions of dollars from the Senate Leadership Fund, the Republican group overseen by Sen. Tim Scott, have come into the state, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer steered close to $1 million toward Andrews in the final stretch. President Donald Trump has come to South Carolina three times to boost Graham, most recently for an Oct. 29 rally in Rock Hill, after which Graham cast her own early ballot in Lexington County.
Republican leaders have spent the last week urging the party to close ranks after a bruising primary. Graham beat U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman in a summer runoff after defeating a field that included U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, and at Fry annual fundraiser in Myrtle Beach on Monday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz praised Fry for backing the nominee after losing. Andrews rallied her own supporters in Rock Hill on Wednesday to get out the vote, pitching her campaign as a way to bring South Carolinians together.
Some Republicans expect straight-ticket voting, which lets a voter pick every candidate from one party with a single choice, to carry Graham across the line, as it helped her brother in 2020. Turnout is already heavy: more than 948,000 of the state nearly 3.5 million registered voters cast ballots during two weeks of early voting. Polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
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