Democrats win a South Carolina Senate seat for the first time in decades

Anne Andrews' victory in the midterm elections

In the US congressional midterm elections that began on November 3, Democratic candidate Anne Andrews, a former pediatrician, has won in South Carolina, according to preliminary data. According to The New York Times, as cited by Gazeta.Ru,, with 88% of ballots counted she is receiving 51% of the vote against 46.9% for the incumbent Republican senator Darlene Graham. The BBC, citing its American partner CBS, also reports Graham's defeat as a confirmed projection.

Differing assessments of the historic streak

The outlets assess the historic significance of the result differently. Gazeta.Ru writes that Democrats have won a Senate election in this state for the first time since 1964, and that the party has not had a senator from South Carolina for 62 years. The BBC frames it differently: this is the Democrats' first victory in a statewide election in 28 years. The outlets do not explain the discrepancy in the figures; in both cases it is the same result, but with different time frames for the streak.

How Graham came to sit in the Senate

Darlene Graham took the Senate seat in July 2026 after the sudden death of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, who died after a 'brief and sudden illness'; the appointment was made with President Donald Trump's approval, the BBC notes. Lindsey Graham, elected to the Senate in 2002, was considered one of Washington's most influential voices on foreign policy. Darlene Graham herself, as she admitted during the primary, was 'not very well versed in national security matters'; at a debate she was asked about the US position on Taiwan, and she replied: 'National security is not my topic, not my area of expertise, but I support the military.' According to the BBC, Trump won South Carolina in 2024 by an 18-point margin, which underscores the scale of the Republican candidate's defeat.

Election context

Gazeta.Ru notes that many experts predict Republicans will lose one or both chambers of Congress, which, in their view, would severely undermine Trump's political capabilities; before the vote, Americans named nine issues that concern them. The BBC writes in its analytical pieces that Democrats are counting on sweeping gains and a redrawing of the political map. The final election results had not been fully counted at the time of publication.