In possibly the biggest self-inflicted wound to Republicans of the midterms, President Donald Trump’s hand-picked GOP Senate nominee in South Carolina failed to hold the seat, with Darline Graham projected to lose to Democrat Annie Andrews.
Trump talked Graham, the younger sister of longtime GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, into running for a full six-year term after her brother died suddenly this summer. The decision irked many Republicans in the state who did not want Trump meddling in their choice.
Indeed, the candidate Darline Graham defeated in the August primary runoff with Trump’s help, Rep. Ralph Norman, refused to campaign with her and did nothing to stop an effort by his supporters to mount a write-in campaign for him.
Andrews, a pediatrician, becomes the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state since Fritz Hollings’ last election in 1998 and the first Democratic statewide winner since 2006.