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Democrats may shape a midterm message around the GOP plan to spend $1 billion on security for the White House renovation that will build President Donald Trump’s ballroom.
It would start with Annie Andrews.
The South Carolina Democrat is running against Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of Congress’ top proponents of Trump’s ballroom and its security needs. Andrews made clear that it will be campaign gold for her if Republicans vote for the money in their forthcoming party-line spending bill.
“That will go over like a lead balloon in South Carolina, and we will use that in our campaign every single day between now and the general election,” Andrews told Semafor on Wednesday. She said she would “talk about what a billion dollars could buy you in South Carolina,” from teacher salaries to SNAP recipients to roads in bridges.
“That’s just not landing with voters who are tired of paying higher grocery prices and higher prescription drug prices,” Andrews said of the plan.
Though both still need to win their June primaries, the match-up between Andrews, a pediatrician who once ran against Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Graham, a four-term senator who morphed from a Trump critic into one of his closest allies, is shaping up to be a wildcard Senate race. And though it’s by no means a focal point of the Senate battlegrounds, that could change this summer if the environment deteriorates further for Republicans.
Asked for comment on the race, Nick Puglia, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said: “Who is Annie Andrews?”
Still, Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is indicating the ballroom could factor into plenty of races: Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said “while families are paying the price for the GOP’s cost-raising agenda at the grocery store, the gas pump, and the doctor’s office, Republicans are building a gilded ballroom and telling voters to just ‘earn more’ and give up ‘personal luxuries,’” referring to quotes from several GOP candidates.
Andrews argued Graham’s focus on the ballroom along with cost-of-living, the Iran war, and forthcoming Medicaid cuts are all contributing to a more fertile environment than when she first launched her campaign a year ago.
“The political environment continues to shift in Democrats’ favor for a lot of really horrific reasons,” Andrews said. “He’s operating as if he’s untouchable, but he’s seeing the same polling I’m seeing, and he knows he’s not.”
Still, Graham seems to be preparing for a coming storm even as he deviates little from Trump, whose approval is slightly underwater now in South Carolina, a state he won by 18 points in 2024 but smaller margins in previous elections. Graham told Semafor that Andrews will “raise a lot of money. I’ll take her seriously. She doesn’t fit the state. She’d be the most liberal person ever nominated by the Democratic Party for the Senate.”
He said taking Andrews’ challenge earnestly is paramount despite defeating former state Sen. Jaime Harrison handily in 2020: “If you don’t in this environment, you’re crazy.”
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Graham is used to skepticism from conservatives and still comfortably wins his general election campaigns, including in 2020 against the well-funded Harrison, who went on to chair the Democratic National Committee. That race seemed to be a toss-up until the votes came in: Graham won by 10 points.
But Graham does think his state could be competitive — if he loses his own primary to Mark Lynch, a self-funding South Carolina businessman who is trying to consolidate anti-Graham forces in the June primary. Graham is highly favored to win the primary but said “if somehow Lynch got through, it would become one of the most contentious races in the country. I think electability would be a problem for him.” The primary could also go to a runoff if no candidate clears 50%.
“They are very clearly behaving as if it really matters which one of them emerges from this primary. Both of them think they’re the only one who can beat me, and I find that incredibly entertaining,” Andrews said.
Still, the race is going to change significantly after the primary. Andrews would have to hugely outperform past Democratic candidates to have a chance: The party hasn’t won a Senate race in South Carolina this century. Andrews believes without Trump on the ballot she has more of a chance than 2020, which also was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
And she has some fans in the Democratic Caucus. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a vice chair of the DSCC, told Semafor that Andrews “understands that what South Carolina families need is leadership that is focused on making their lives better, not starting wars with no strategic goals that drive up their costs even further.”
The ballroom and Iran war aren’t the only issues animating the campaign. Graham is one of the staunchest backers of arms for Israel in the Senate, but Andrews said she would join the bulk of the Senate Democratic Caucus in voting to block some weapons sales to Israel: “I oppose us providing offensive weapons to Israel.”
room for disagreement (with democrats)
Andrews knows she can’t be seen as a national Democrat.
“I am appalled that all Democrats don’t support a ban on members of Congress from trading stock. I’m appalled that we don’t all support term limits,” she said. And as for supporting Chuck Schumer as Democratic leader, she said: “I think we need a generational shift in leadership. I still have not met or talked to Chuck Schumer … when I get to DC, if he wants the job, and he wants to talk to me about that, along with anyone else who wants that job, I’ll hear anyone out.”
Burgess’s view
Voters don’t like the ballroom, according to polls, so Graham is certainly not playing it safe by pushing for it. But South Carolina is still a red state, so the onus is on Andrews to prove she’s not like Harrison, who was ultimately a money sink in an unwinnable race.
Andrews is an intriguing candidate and Inside Elections did move the race in Democrats’ direction — but they still label it “Likely Republican.” If national Democratic or Republican groups start moving money in South Carolina, you’ll know something has changed.
Notable
- Ghosts and telepathy outpoll the ballroom by some metrics, according to CNN.