Sen. Darline Graham (R-South Carolina) clashed Sunday night with Democrat Annie Andrews in their only scheduled debate for the red state’s unexpectedly competitive Senate race.
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Graham, who was appointed to fill the seat of her brother, Lindsey Graham, after he died in July, stood by President Donald Trump, who elevated her from obscurity, and cast Andrews as a “radical liberal.” Andrews, a pediatrician, presented the incumbent as unqualified and tried to appeal to independents and Republican voters she needs to win in a GOP stronghold, which last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1998.
In September, the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election prognosticator, shifted the race’s rating from “Solid” to “Likely” Republican. Republicans have increased spending to protect Graham, and Trump recently weighed in by attacking Andrews using an anti-transgender slur.
Graham, who never held office and kept a low profile before her appointment, entered the general election with skepticism from some in the GOP base. Despite receiving Trump’s endorsement, Republicans questioned her — and her late brother’s — MAGA credentials. She said during a primary debate that she was “not that informed on national security” when asked about Taiwan policy, an answer that opponents seized upon as evidence she is ill-equipped for the job.
The debate, hosted by South Carolina ETV and Public Radio, is the only scheduled general election debate, and Graham has rebuffed Andrews’s demands for more. Libertarian Kasie Whitener also participated in the Sunday debate.
Here are our takeaways.
Andrews referenced Graham’s foreign policy fumble in a primary debate as she criticized the senator’s voting record on the war in Iran.
“South Carolina, if your surgeon said that appendectomy aren’t really his thing, would you still hand him a scalpel? No,” Andrews said. “So why would we hand Darline Graham a full term in the U.S. Senate? She is unserious and unqualified.”
Graham countered that her answer showed she was honest with voters.
Andrews accused Graham, who has also used her husband’s last name Nordone, of recently changing her name in an attack that Graham called a “personal insult.”
“My name is Annie Andrews,” she said, rebutting Republicans who tried to link her to progressive Democrats. “And there shouldn’t be any confusion about that because unlike my opponent, I haven’t changed my name recently.”
Graham asserted that her legal name has always been Graham, although she had sometimes used her husband’s last name on social media. She said she kept her last name to remain connected to her parents, whom she lost young, and sarcastically thanked Andrews for bringing up the “horrible, tragic memory” of their passing.
Andrews conspicuously avoided naming the president, while criticizing his policies, like the Iran war, as Graham only mentioned his name in a positive light.
Andrews faces the challenge of running in a state Trump won by 18 percentage points in 2024, while trying to capitalize on his administration’s unpopularity to win. At one point, she said Graham “seems to believe the job she has right now is to be the White House’s ambassador to South Carolina.”
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Graham praised Trump for his economic record, including a recent diesel policy change to reduce the price of gas which rose as a result of his war on Iran. She then apportioned blame for high gas prices, in part, to green energy policies.
Graham defended the premise of the war, saying Democrats increased the risk of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. She also repeatedly mentioned the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which she sponsored and which she said gives the president “tools to end the war through economic sanctions.”
“That’s up to him as to whether or not he wants to use it or whether he wants to use something else,” she said.
Andrews used the debate to make explicit appeals to independents and Republicans, while distancing herself from Democratic Socialists and the left of her party on key issues, including immigration and health care.
“If you are an independent who is ready for change, this is the campaign for you. If you are a Republican who feels left behind by your party, this is the campaign for you,” Andrews said in her opening comment.
After Graham accused her of supporting “government-run health care for all,” Andrews said she does not support Medicare-for-all, the universal health care plan embraced by the party’s left. Instead, she said, she supports a public option for government-sponsored coverage alongside private insurance.
On immigration, Andrews said: “Democrats have failed on the border.” She said she supports deporting illegal immigrants “who break the law,” but that enforcement needs to respect “human dignity and due process.”
Andrews accused Graham of accepting campaign financing from artificial intelligence companies, calling her “data center Darline.” Graham countered that she supports community involvement and negotiation in data center development, but does not support a federal moratorium that she said would help China win the global AI arms race.
Andrews also referenced The Washington Post’s reporting on Graham’s husband’s management roles in two companies that rely on Chinese manufacturing.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for a sitting senator to be lining her pockets with money from China,” Andrews said.
Graham accused Andrews of “sinking pretty low” for bringing up her husband.
“My husband is employed by the company. He doesn’t own the company or have any interest in the company,“ Graham said. “They buy toy guns from China. If y’all didn’t regulate everybody to death, maybe some of the manufacturers would actually stay in this country.”
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