Lindsey Graham's Sister Darlene Loses South Carolina Senate Seat to Annie Andrews - Newsweek
Democrat Annie Andrews pulled off a seismic shock in South Carolina by beating incumbent Republican Senator Darline Graham, one of at least seven Republican-held Senate seats Democrats flipped on Tuesday in a sweeping election that handed them control of the chamber.
The shock result is a huge blow to President Trump, who won the state by nearly 18 points just two years ago and personally recommended Graham to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who appointed her after the death of her brother, longtime Senator Lindsey Graham. Trump later encouraged Graham to run for a full six-year term and backed her campaign.
The result is particularly striking in a state where a Democratic Senate victory had appeared highly unlikely. The race tightened significantly in the closing months of the campaign, but Republicans were still favored to retain the seat heading into Election Day.
Andrews will become the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from South Carolina since 1998.
What initially appeared to be an extraordinary result confined to South Carolina instead became part of a sweeping shift toward Democrats across the Senate map. Democrats have flipped at least seven Republican-held seats, including in Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina and Maine, in addition to South Carolina.
The seven pickups have given Democrats a clear Senate majority, with NBC News projecting them at 53 seats early Wednesday while several contests remained uncalled. The gains included victories in several states Trump carried by double digits in 2024, turning the South Carolina shock into part of a much broader Democratic wave.
Republicans entered the election cycle holding 53 Senate seats. Democrats held 45, while two independents caucused with them, giving the Democratic-aligned bloc 47 seats.
Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to reach the 51 needed for outright control. By early Wednesday, they had gone considerably further, flipping at least seven Republican-held seats, with NBC News projecting Democrats at 53 seats while several races remained uncalled.
Along with Andrews' victory in South Carolina, Democrats flipped Republican-held seats in North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Kansas, Iowa and Maine.
Andrews' victory gives Democrats one of at least seven Republican-held seats the party has now flipped. The South Carolina victory is particularly significant because it came in a state that was not initially expected to be central to Democrats' path to a majority, giving the party a pickup from deep inside Republican territory.
The wider results reinforce the significance of the upset. Democrats have won Republican-held Senate seats in states where Trump performed strongly in 2024, including South Carolina, Texas and Kansas. What looked early in the night like a startling warning sign for Republicans has become part of a sweeping remaking of the Senate map.
The election is also a test of the political coalition associated with Lindsey Graham, who represented South Carolina in the Senate for more than two decades.
Once an occasional critic of Trump, Lindsey Graham became one of his most prominent Senate allies. Trump backed Graham during the Republican nomination fight, closely linking her candidacy to the president’s political brand.
Trump's involvement went well beyond a traditional endorsement. Following Lindsey Graham's death, Trump said he recommended Graham to McMaster to fill the vacancy. He then encouraged her to seek a full six-year term and backed her through the Republican nomination contest.
That makes her defeat an unusually direct political setback for Trump: a candidate he personally helped elevate to the Senate has now lost to a Democrat in a state he carried overwhelmingly just two years earlier.
There were signs of growing Republican concern in the closing months. The Cook Political Report moved the race from Solid Republican to Likely Republican in September, while the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund spent $13 million supporting Graham.
But the scale of the Democratic gains Tuesday night puts the South Carolina upset in a dramatically different context. Rather than an isolated defeat for Trump and Republicans, Andrews' victory became one of at least seven Democratic pickups in an election that cost the GOP control of the Senate.
The gains may not be finished. Several Senate contests remained uncalled early Wednesday, including Alaska, where Democrat Peltola was leading Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in the early count.
With Democrats already projected at 53 seats, the South Carolina result now looks less like a singular political shock and more like one of the clearest early signs of the Democratic wave that swept the party into control of the Senate, with the ultimate size of that majority still to be determined.
