Democratic candidate Annie Andrews has won the South Carolina Senate seat held for more than two decades by the late Lindsey Graham. She defeated his sister, Republican senator Darline Graham, in one of the biggest upsets of the US midterm elections.
The Associated Press called the race for Andrews after polls closed on November 3. With about 86 per cent of the vote counted, she had 51 per cent against 46.8 per cent for Graham, NBC News reported.
Andrews is the first Democrat elected to the Senate from South Carolina since Fritz Hollings won his final term in 1998. She is also the first woman the state has elected to the upper chamber.
The result came in a state that US President Donald Trump carried by almost 18 points in 2024. “South Carolina’s best days are ahead of us,” Andrews told supporters after the race was called.
Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, died on July 11 aged 71 after what his office described as a brief and sudden illness. South Carolina governor Henry McMaster then appointed Darline Graham, a former head of the state’s Commission for the Blind, to serve out the term.
Although she had never run for public office, she went on to win a special Republican primary against better-known rivals, including congressman Ralph Norman. Trump encouraged her to stand and campaigned for her in the state, CBS News reported.
Andrews, a paediatrician, had challenged Republican Nancy Mace for a House seat in 2022.
The defeat in South Carolina was part of a wider rout for Trump’s party. The Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, according to NBC News and the Associated Press.
In Texas, Democrat James Talarico beat state attorney general Ken Paxton to become the first member of his party to win a Senate race there since 1988. Gina Hinojosa unseated Republican governor Greg Abbott, ending three decades of Republican control of the governor’s office.
In North Carolina, former governor Roy Cooper also took a Republican-held Senate seat. NBC News projected the Democrats would hold 54 of the 100 seats, a net gain of seven where four were needed for a majority.
Lindsey Graham was among the most prominent backers of Ukraine in Washington and made 10 visits to the country after Russia’s full-scale invasion. He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on July 10, the day before he died.
A Russia sanctions bill named in his honour cleared the House of Representatives on September 16. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen paid tribute to him after his death, highlighting his support for Ukraine in the war.
