Republicans lose a Senate seat they held for 28 years

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Democrat Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician, defeated Republican Sen. Darline Graham on election night, ending 28 years of Republican control of a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina, according to Associated Press projections and Reuters reporting.

Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, had been encouraged to run for a full term by President Donald Trump, who endorsed her, backed her through the Republican primary and campaigned for her in the state. A state party official who has worked the last six Senate cycles said the party had always treated this race as paperwork. On Tuesday night he was looking for the form.

Trump Endorsed Darline Graham After Lindsey Graham’s Death

Lindsey Graham died this summer, and Gov. Henry McMaster appointed his sister to finish the term. Within weeks Trump was urging her to seek a full six-year term, Roll Call reported, and he endorsed her the same week.

The party had other options. Rep. Ralph Norman, a conservative with years in the House, a voting record and a working knowledge of how Congress operates, was in the race. Trump preferred Graham, and she won the Republican runoff. Trump appeared with her at a rally in Myrtle Beach.

Minutes from a county Republican executive committee meeting held after the appointment, obtained by this publication, record a motion to confirm that the seat would stay in the family. The motion passed. A second motion, to ask which family, was tabled.

Dr. Lucille Hargrove, a political scientist who has studied Southern Senate races for twenty-five years, said a famous surname does its work in a primary, where voters are checking loyalty. “A surname tells voters who you’re related to,” Hargrove said. “In a general election they also want to know what you can do.”

Graham’s National Security Remarks Became a Campaign Problem

During the primary campaign Graham acknowledged that national security was not her area of expertise, and the Associated Press reported that her inexperience became a vulnerability as the race tightened. The Senate handles military policy, intelligence oversight and foreign relations.

A parking attendant at the Myrtle Beach rally, who asked not to be named because the lot belongs to the venue, said it was the first time he had heard a candidate say that out loud. “Most of them wait until after they win,” he said.

Andrews ran on the cost of living and distrust of the Washington establishment. She had no endorsement from the president and no relative who had held the seat. Before the vote, a New York Times/Siena poll had the two candidates tied at 48 percent, a result Republican strategists described to reporters as unexpected.

Trump Carried South Carolina Comfortably, Then Republicans Lost the Senate Seat

Trump carried South Carolina by nearly 18 points in his last presidential race, and Lindsey Graham won his last reelection by about 10. Analysts had generally rated the state safely conservative, and the seat had been Republican since before most of this year’s first-time voters were born.

That made the result a major upset, national analysts said. It also left the party with a question about the endorsement that had cleared the field. In the primary it worked. In the general election, Democrats, independents and some Republicans did not treat it as binding.

Exit Polls Show Voters Wanted Checks on Trump

According to Reuters’ election-night analysis, Trump had encouraged supporters to behave as though he were on the ballot. National exit polling reported by Reuters found that about half of voters saw the midterms as a chance to rebuke the president. About three-quarters were angry or dissatisfied with the country’s direction, and roughly 70 percent wanted Congress to put more checks on presidential power.

Those figures are national, not specific to South Carolina. Results for the state are posted by the South Carolina Election Commission.

Republican Consultants Search for Explanations

A Republican consultant who asked not to be named said the postmortem would cover turnout, suburban voters, inflation, gas prices and national sentiment, in that order. “The one we haven’t tried is the candidate,” he said. He said the report would run 90 pages and cost $250,000, and that its conclusion would be that Republicans need to listen more closely to Donald Trump.

5 Humorous Observations: Trump Picked Graham, South Carolina Picked Somebody Else

1. Republicans held that seat for twenty-eight years. Twenty-eight years. When you inherit a streak like that, you have exactly one job, which is to not touch anything. And somebody touched it.
2. The seat went to the sister. That’s not a government, that’s a casserole dish. Somebody dies, you get the Pyrex, and you’re expected to bring it to the reunion.
3. She said national security wasn’t her thing. You almost never hear that. Most politicians spend years hiding it. She skipped the whole discovery phase and saved everybody a lot of time.
4. The Democrat’s a pediatrician. Her whole day is calming down screaming people who can’t tell her what’s wrong. Honestly, that might be the best resume anyone’s ever brought to Washington.
5. “Pretend I’m on the ballot.” Great instruction if you’re up. You tell half the country to pretend, and half the country says, “Oh, okay.” You can’t get mad when people play along.