Democrat Annie Andrews won South Carolina’s Senate race Tuesday, defeating Republican Sen. Darline Graham in a major upset, NBC News and Decision Desk HQ projected.
Andrews, a pediatrician, led about 51% to 47% with roughly 86% of the expected vote counted, according to NBC. She is the first Democrat South Carolina has elected to the Senate since 1998, and the first woman the state has elected to a full Senate term.
The result caps a final stretch of the campaign that saw surprise polling movement toward Democrats, turning a race that wasn’t on many political observers’ radar into a competitive contest.
Graham was appointed to the seat this summer after the death of her brother, longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Andrews was making her first run for the Senate.
Data centers emerged as a point of contrast. Andrews called for a two-year moratorium on new data center projects, while Graham opposed moratoriums. A new super PAC tied to the data center industry, Building the Future, reserved roughly $1.5 million in ads for Graham. Two former governors, Republican David Beasley and Democrat Jim Hodges, appeared together in an ad backing Andrews, with Beasley saying political rhetoric had gotten “way, way out of hand.”
Polls showed a closer race than South Carolina’s partisan lean would suggest. A New York Times/Siena poll found both candidates at 48% among likely voters, while Decision Desk HQ’s forecast gave Graham about a two-in-three chance of winning. The GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund put at least $8.5 million into South Carolina to shore up Graham, and a House Republican, speaking anonymously, called the race’s closeness “embarrassing” for the party.
In the final stretch, President Donald Trump made his third trip to South Carolina to boost Graham.
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