South Carolina has long been reliably Republican territory. But with Election Day approaching, the state's U.S. Senate race has become much tighter than many expected.
Republican Sen. Darline Graham was appointed this summer to fill the seat held by her late brother, Lindsey Graham. She's now running for a full term against Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician from the Charleston area.
Some recent polls show Graham ahead by only a few points; others show a virtual dead heat.
South Carolina Public Radio reporter Maayan Schecter spoke with WFAE's Nick de la Canal about how the race became so competitive and what she's watching for in the final week before Election Day.
Nick de la Canal: Let’s start with the big picture. This is South Carolina, where Republicans have dominated for decades. How did this Senate race get this close?
Maayan Schecter: First of all, we have to go back to the fact that there was the sudden death of the incumbent, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and that obviously opened up a seat that hadn’t been opened up since Strom Thurmond.
And looking at Sen. Darline Graham, while she worked in state government — she worked for a state agency — she is a complete political newcomer. She doesn’t have any political experience running for public office, though her campaign certainly has a lot of experience. There are a lot of holdovers from Lindsey Graham’s office working for her.
And you’re talking about a challenger in Dr. Annie Andrews who is incredibly well funded. Her organization is really well funded, and she’s running a very, very serious campaign. So that’s another part.
De la Canal: Graham has also faced some resistance from within her own party. Congressman Ralph Norman, who lost to her in the primary, has said he won’t campaign for her. Now Trump is returning on Thursday for a rally in Rock Hill. That’s Norman’s backyard. What does that tell us?
Schecter: Congressman Norman won most of the Upstate and his district in the runoff and in the primary, and so the Graham campaign is very much attuned that those are voters that they need to win over.
It’s why you saw the president in the Upstate just a few days ago. And so clearly that primary, that runoff has really bruised a lot of folks who were big-time Congressman Norman fans who wanted to see him become the sitting senator.
And so, yeah, I mean, it’s going to be interesting to see, and obviously we won’t know exactly until Election Day how all of that influences the outcome.
De la Canal: And then on the other side, Democrat Annie Andrews has picked up some Republican endorsements, including one from former Gov. David Beasley, and she talks about building a coalition of Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans. Is that strategy working?
Schecter: I mean, we won’t really know until Election Day. I hate to say that over and over.
But I think the message that it probably sends to folks is: Look, if you are someone who may consider themselves toward the middle, perhaps you consider yourself an independent, you vote for Democrats sometimes, you vote for Republicans other times.
Perhaps seeing Jim Hodges and David Beasley together — two rivals ...
De la Canal: Both former governors, right?
Schecter: ... Correct — endorse Annie Andrews, that may spur some motivation to decide to actually vote in this election for Dr. Annie Andrews.
De la Canal: Finally, what are you watching in these last few days before the election that could maybe tell us where this race is headed?
Schecter: You know, it’s funny, I think if we were having this conversation last week, I would have said, “Oh, I’m looking to see if there are any other big-time surrogates coming to South Carolina, and I’m looking to see whether groups like, again, the Senate Leadership Fund or other groups like that are putting millions more dollars into South Carolina.”
And as of this week, both of those things are happening.
As you noted, the president’s returning for the second time within days. We’ve seen millions more dollars come into South Carolina.
I think clearly we’re all noting that this is a much more competitive environment than anticipated. Again, we’ll just have to wait and see.
