Senator Darline Graham was mingling with supporters at a campaign event in South Carolina on Tuesday night when one of them tapped her shoulder and said: “Don’t lose the Senate.”
She turned around and replied, “I’m trying real hard not to.”
Then, inside a ballroom in Aiken, S.C., Ms. Graham continued, mostly to herself: “Man, I’m so tired. Six more days. I can do it.”
If she was trying to convince herself, Ms. Graham also has some work to do convincing others.
A political novice who was thrust onto the national stage in July after the death of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, Ms. Graham has found herself in a difficult spot in deep-red South Carolina as election season draws to a close. Appointed to complete the final months of her brother’s tenure, she is now seeking a full six-year term while also learning in real time how to govern — and how to campaign.
She has stumbled at both. She flubbed a question about foreign policy in a televised debate, and has largely avoided questions from reporters when she’s at work in Washington. One of the Republicans she defeated in the primary, Representative Ralph Norman, has only reluctantly agreed to back her. Some of his supporters have started a write-in campaign on his behalf. Many others in the party have expressed concerned about her qualifications for the job.
All of it has led to a final, nail-biting week of campaigning at a time when Ms. Graham, still grieving her brother, is effectively tied with her Democratic challenger, Dr. Annie Andrews, according to a new New York Times/Siena poll. Ms. Graham’s struggles have raised the possibility of what seemed unthinkable to Democrats and Republicans alike just a few months ago: a Democratic pickup in one of the nation’s most conservative states.
“I know there’s some people out there who are thinking, ‘Well, you know, it’s a red state, we’ve got it,’” Ms. Graham said at the event in Aiken. “Not this time. It’s close. The polls have me a little nervous.”
There are plenty of forces that could help push Ms. Graham to victory on Tuesday. A popular Republican candidate for governor, the state attorney general Alan Wilson, is attracting enthusiastic crowds. He could provide strong coattails for Ms. Graham on Election Day, especially because South Carolina voters will have the option of tapping a single button to choose a straight-party ticket.
In 2024, roughly 31 percent of South Carolina voters cast ballots for a straight Republican ticket, while 20 percent did so for Democrats, according to data from the state’s Election Commission.
Then there is the matter of polling, which in 2020 placed Ms. Graham’s brother in a virtual tie with his Democratic opponent. Mr. Graham went on to win re-election by 10 percentage points. This year’s surveys could be misleading, too.
The Times survey found that 51 percent of voters in the polls, including 18 percent of Republicans, believed that Ms. Graham did not have the “right experience to be an effective Senator.” Voters said their primary reason for backing her was to support the Republican Party.
“Ladies and gentleman, Senator Lindsey Graham!” said the man introducing Ms. Graham inside the ballroom in Aiken on Tuesday.
Dozens of people eating roasted chicken and vegetables put down their forks and chuckled as the senator made her way to the lectern.
“Don’t worry about that,” she said to the crowd of local Republicans, who had known her brother well. “That’s a compliment.”
Toward the end of her speech, Ms. Graham appeared to make a rare break from her standard address.
“I actually love the job,” she said of her brief time in the Senate.
“The campaign?” she said. “That’s a different story.”
Before July, Ms. Graham’s most high-profile job was leading a state agency for blind residents, where she was respected by her staff and known for her high standards. With the exception of occasionally supporting her brother, who never married, in a role akin to that of a political spouse, she mostly stayed away from politics. Friends and former co-workers have said in interviews that they had never heard her discuss her views on politics or policy issues.
Still, she inherited her brother’s complicated relationship with the state’s Republican base. By the time of Mr. Graham’s death, he was facing criticism from the far right for being too soft on immigration and flak from traditional Republicans for aligning too closely with President Trump.
Scott Douglas, a 55-year old Amazon delivery driver, said he became a resident of South Carolina to vote against Mr. Graham and his stances on immigration. He backed Mr. Norman in the primary and runoff elections.
Mr. Douglas said he remains nervous that Ms. Graham might not prove to be as conservative as she says she is, especially once Mr. Trump leaves the White House. But he planned to cast his final ballot for her, albeit reluctantly, to avoid sending a Democrat to the Senate, he said.
At a recent rally at a livestock facility in Clemson, S.C., Mr. Douglas approached the senator as she made her way to her seat.
“Please do us well,” he said to her, shaking her hand. “Please do what we expect.”
“I will,” Ms. Graham said. “I will.”
Some of the headwinds in the race have been out of Ms. Graham’s control. Others, such as her loyalty to Mr. Trump, represent her own political calculations. The president endorsed Ms. Graham in a contentious primary and has campaigned heavily on her behalf at a time when his approval ratings are sagging.
Mr. Trump won the state by more than 17 points in 2024. This cycle, Dr. Andrews, a pediatrician, has out-raised and outspent Ms. Graham. On Thursday, the top super PAC for Senate Democrats said it was pouring $750,000 into the race, its first investment in the state and a sign of the party’s increasing optimism.
To turn the tide, Mr. Trump visited South Carolina on Thursday for a second time in eight days. Ms. Graham, who got off to a slow start in the general election while her opponent blanketed the state, is in the midst of her most aggressive barnstorm to date.
She has appeared at pubs and on right-wing talk shows, leaning into the issues most popular with the G.O.P. base. She has also repeatedly stressed that she is becoming “very informed” on national security in the three months since she told voters during a live debate that she was “not that informed” on the issue.
This week, she kicked off her travel in Myrtle Beach, S.C. a laid-back coastal town that has boomed in population with the type of firebrand conservatives who helped propel Mr. Trump to the White House.
A roster of Republican officials and candidates joined her at an event hosted by Representative Russell Fry, a Republican who had challenged Ms. Graham in the primary this summer. She sat a table in the front of the room with her hair pulled back in a clip.
“There were hurt feelings, we all know that,” Mr. Wilson said of the Senate primary this summer.
“But here’s the reality,” he said of Ms. Graham. “This is the only option.”
On Wednesday morning, Ms. Graham arrived in the ultraconservative region known as the Upstate for breakfast at a local Republican club. It was about a half-hour away from where she grew up with her brother, in the back of a bar that their parents had owned. It was also one the regions of the state where her support has been weakest, the Times poll found.
Organizers had staged the event in one of the club’s smaller rooms, said Nate Leupp, the head of the Fourth District Republican Club. In past cycles, candidates have filled a space twice the size, he said.
While attendees ate mini muffins and bacon, Ms. Graham sat at the front of the room conducting an interview with conservative radio hosts.
They asked her if she would disagree with Mr. Trump if it was in the interest of South Carolina residents. They asked why conservatives were no longer as focused on a balanced budget as they used to be. They pressed her to give a detailed opinion about the war in Iran.
Then they asked her if she was angry at her brother for “putting you in this situation.”
Ms. Graham laughed.
“When I get to heaven one day,” she said. “I am just going to choke Lindsey.”
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