Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, is projected to win her state’s Senate race against Republican Darline Graham, according to Decision Desk HQ. She was originally slated to run against incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly in July.
Andrews won an unusually tight race for South Carolina, a deep red state that has had a Republican trifecta for over two decades. Graham faced deep skepticism from conservatives in her own party because of her friendship with former state Sen. Katrina Shealy, who lost her reelection bid in 2024 after she helped block a near-total abortion ban and opposed a ban on abortion after six weeks that ultimately became state law.
Some Republicans also questioned Graham’s fitness for office after she said during a GOP primary debate that she did not know Taiwan’s relevance to U.S. national security.
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“National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military,” she said in August.
Andrews led with her experience as a doctor and as a mother. She launched her campaign last year with a video featuring an X-ray of a child with measles pneumonia, pointing out the disease could have been prevented by vaccination. Until recently, measles cases were exceedingly rare in the United States.
“I never in a million years, when I was in medical school, thought that I would be running for the U.S. Senate and also talking about measles nearly every single day,” Andrews told The 19th in January, referencing the thousands of cases that have been reported across the United States due to falling vaccination rates and widespread misinformation.
Graham aligned herself closely with the president, who vocally supported her candidacy, showing up at rallies and via social media posts.
At the most recent rally for Graham on October 21, Trump described Andrews as a “radical left lunatic” and used a slur for transgender people.
Andrews is not transgender and, like many Democrats this election cycle, has come out against trans women’s participation in women’s sports, telling the New York Times she is against “biological men” competing.
