She promised to carry on Lindsey Graham’s legacy. Now her campaign is imploding.

If you had told us a month ago that South Carolina’s Senate race might actually be competitive this fall, we probably would have laughed in your face. Yet here we are!

According to the latest insight from political analysis and polling aggregation website FiftyPlusOne, Republican Darline Graham is just barely holding onto a 2-point lead over Democrat Annie Andrews in the campaign for U.S. Senate. On top of that, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report just shifted the race from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.”

So, what does that mean exactly?

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Well, Cook doesn’t consider it a full-blown toss-up quite yet. But considering how things seem to be going for GOP candidates across the board, it could very easily get there. Especially with more than a month to go before Election Day.

Cue the off alarm bells for Republicans! ???? ???? ???? This could be the Senate flip nobody saw coming!

Governor Henry McMaster appointed Graham to the U.S. Senate in July, mere days after her older brother, Lindsey Graham, dropped dead at age 71.

During her appointment ceremony, Graham pledged to carry on her brother’s conservative, pro-Tr*mp, anti-LGBTQ+ legacy. “Lindsey has always been there for me,” she said, “and now I will be there for him.”

After initially promising to only finish out Lindsey’s term, she quickly backtracked and jumped into the race for a full term.

But it became pretty clear she was in over her head when she completely bungled a response to what should have been an easy question about U.S.-Taiwan relations during a debate with primary opponent Rep. Ralph Norman last month.

“I’m just going to be honest here,” she said, “I’m not that informed on national security, so…” Then she added, “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military.”

Graham’s team quickly rushed to do damage control, firing off a statement to smooth things over: “What’s important are the people of South Carolina. They’re worried about their pocketbooks more than they’re worried about the South China Sea, quite honestly.”

Here’s the thing, though… A U.S. Senator needs to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Looking out for folks back home while also keeping an eye on global affairs is literally the job.

That probably should’ve been the end of it right there. But amazingly, Graham went on to win her primary with 52.6% of the vote, even after getting into a spat with a constituent for recording her during a campaign stop. (“It kinda does bother me that you’re recording me without my permission,” she scolded the woman.)

Now, 62-year-old Graham is facing off against Andrews, a 45-year-old pediatrician and staunch LGBTQ+ ally who, if the polls are any indication, might actually be able to give her a run for her money.

Oh, and speaking of money, federal filings show Graham has raised just under $350,000 for her campaign. Andrews, on the other hand? She’s raked in over $10.8 million.

Andrews, who previously ran for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District in 2022, has centered her platform on evidence-based, age-appropriate care for youth with parental consent, while clarifying that she doesn’t support gender-affirming surgeries for minors. She also supports marriage equality, civil rights, and human dignity for all LGBTQ+ people, and has dismissed political attacks on trans athletes as a wedge issue designed to divide voters.

In other words, she’s the polar opposite of Graham.

Since taking office in July, Graham has missed five out of 37 tracked Senate votes, leaving her with a relatively light legislative record. Instead, she’s leaned heavily into culture-war messaging on the campaign trail, accusing Andrews of pushing a “transgender agenda” and insisting that trans issues matter more to South Carolinians than economic concerns. Or, um, the South China Sea.

She also launched a satirical, video-game-style website called “Dr. Annie’s Waiting Room” where visitors click on virtual digital patients to trigger misleading pop-ups that claim Andrews supports assault weapon bans, youth gender-affirming care, and trans women participating in women’s sports.

So, what’s gonna happen?

Honestly, who knows?!

A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race in South Carolina in 20 years, and the party hasn’t won a U.S. Senate seat in the Palmetto State since 1998.

But Republicans have gotten pretty nervous about the midterms in recent weeks, thanks to the deeply unpopular war in Iran, rising interest rates, and an increasingly sh*tty economy thanks to D*n*ld Tr*mp’s disastrous economic policies.

And speaking of Tr*mp, he certainly hasn’t helped matters this week by issuing a formal declaration renaming AI to “Super Intelligence” at the United Nations and launching “Tr*mp TV,” a state-run streaming network not dissimilar to Russia’s state-run VGTRK network or North Korea’s state-run KCTV.

Instead of spending money to flip competitive seats, Republicans have poured over $110 million into red districts and states that Tr*mp won handily in 2024 just to protect their own incumbents and keep the damage from spreading.

With the way things are going for Graham, that kind of defensive scramble could end up happening in South Carolina too.

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