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Democratic leaders face tough decisions on where to spend limited party resources to win the Senate majority. Annie Andrews wants to make sure South Carolina is on their battleground map.
Democrats felt burned in the Palmetto State after Jaime Harrison raised $132 million but lost by 10 points to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in 2020. But Andrews says this isn’t 2020, she’s not Harrison — and Sen. Darline Graham isn’t her brother.
“There’s more people sniffing around and starting to see that there is a legitimate path to victory here because of the unique set of circumstances, the national environment, who I am as a candidate, how weak Darline is as a candidate,” Andrews told Semafor this week. “Things are evolving rapidly. I think there’s definitely more national interest. There’s clearly a path to victory.”
The Democratic candidate is releasing polls showing her race tied, imploring Democrats to acknowledge the uniquely strong position she occupies in a reliably red state. Andrews says she raised $1.2 million in the six days after Graham narrowly defeated Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., in the runoff election for the GOP nomination last week. She insists she can win on her own if she has to, but most Democrats believe she’ll need outside support to win a state like South Carolina.
That’s a tough ask of Democrats, who are pursuing a half-dozen GOP Senate seats, some of them in very expensive territory like Ohio and Texas. On top of that, they’re also defending several Democrat-controlled seats. The party is divided over how deep to push into red territory after they flamed out in places like Kansas, Kentucky, and — yes — South Carolina in 2020.
“It’s been a crazy Senate map all cycle. Not a lot of attention on South Carolina, but now people are like, ‘Oh, what’s happening down there?’” Andrews said. “It’s cheaper to win a race in South Carolina. It costs far less to make an impact in a race in South Carolina than it does in some of these other races that the national party is involved in.”
Democrats are taking notice of Andrews but the cavalry hasn’t come yet. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Semafor in August that Kansas and Mississippi are the next tier of Senate races Democrats are interested in.
But some think the party shouldn’t ignore the possibility of a huge wave year that crests in places like South Carolina.
“People are outraged that this war has lasted as long as it has, and I have a growing sense that that issue is going to be more of a referendum than people think in November,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “I know everybody feels burned by South Carolina [in 2020], but that’s a really interesting race.”
Lauren French, a spokesperson for the Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, said Andrews “is running a phenomenal campaign, and has made this Senate race increasingly competitive.” She added that the group is “continuing to watch this race closely.”
“The GOP is scrambling to defend their struggling candidates in deep-red states,” said Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “South Carolina, where Annie Andrews is running an incredibly strong campaign, is no exception.”
Republicans say money isn’t Andrews’s issue. National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Nick Puglia called her “a radical lunatic,” adding that “no amount of liberal dark money can cover up her extreme record.”
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Andrews wants the party to embrace term limits and renounce congressional stock trading and corporate contributions. She’s a doctor not connected as closely to Democratic politics as Harrison, and has made affordability a central focus of her campaign.
And Harrison said Andrews has a “real shot” to win where he fell short.
“I ran against a three-term incumbent with a national fundraising network, a powerful political operation and decades of relationships across South Carolina. Darline doesn’t have any of that,” Harrison told Semafor.
One asset Graham does have: President Donald Trump’s support. He pulled her across the finish line in the runoff, and has already spent on her behalf through his MAGA Inc. super PAC.
Still, Andrews says she is relieved that Graham is the nominee instead of Norman: “There was a clear difference in the most recent poll we did that Darline was going to be easier for me.”
Picking up on Graham’s debate flub regarding Taiwan, Andrews is trying to arrange a pair of general election debates with Graham. She said Republicans might opt against an on-stage bout because “the risks of stepping on the debate stage with me outweigh the negative political backlash of not debating.”
The Graham campaign didn’t have any news on the debate front when reached for comment. Abby Zilch, a Graham spokesperson, called Andrews “dangerous” and “radical” in a statement criticizing her positions on abortion rights, guns, and transgender issues.
“Those are not South Carolina values, and no amount of campaign spin can hide them,” Zilch said.
Room for Disagreement
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said this weekend that Andrews can win but the only thing that “would stop her from winning this race is for us to not do our part to turn out the vote.”
“We have to do a better job of turning our base voters out,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Burgess’s view
Andrews needs national support but absolutely does not need her race nationalized. If her race becomes one about Senate control instead of Andrews vs. Graham, it will be almost impossible to win.
That means she needs to end up in a Goldilocks position of enjoying financial support from national Democrats but not seen as connected to them. That’s a tough needle to thread, and she’s not the only one trying to get there.
A poll from Kansas on Wednesday showed Democrat Adam Hamilton narrowly leading Republican Sen. Roger Marshall. Scott Colom has similarly argued he’s competitive against Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smit in Mississippi. All three races put Schumer and his allies in a tough position of deciding whether to pour all of their limited resources into a handful of states that can give them 51 seats — or go for broke all across the country to multiply their chances.
David Weigel and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.