CHARLESTON, S.C. — Today, as Senator Darline Graham and Congressman Ralph Norman advanced to the August 25 Republican runoff for U.S. Senate, Dr. Annie Andrews formally challenged both candidates to commit now to a series of at least three televised general election debates across South Carolina. Letters were transmitted to both Republican campaigns this evening, and the Dr. Andrews’ campaign is inviting South Carolina’s leading broadcasters to host.

Dr. Andrews released the following statement:

“Congratulations to Senator Graham and Congressman Norman. Now I have a simple ask for both of you: commit to meet me in televised debates this fall — in Columbia, in Charleston, in Greenville, anywhere in South Carolina. Whichever one of you emerges from this runoff, my challenge is the same. I’ll be there.

“South Carolina families are watching their grocery bills climb, their hospital bills pile up, and their rural hospitals close — and they deserve better than a coronation by the Washington machine. They deserve to hear, face to face, how each of us plans to lower their costs and protect their health care. I’ve spent twenty years answering to South Carolina families in the exam room. If you want to represent them in the Senate, come make your case to them — on stage, on camera, in front of the people whose lives are on the line.

“Agree to debate. I did the moment I entered this race. The people of South Carolina are waiting on you.”

Dr. Andrews has proposed a series of at least three televised, in-studio debates beginning in September, and has asked both campaigns to respond by Thursday, August 27 — within 48 hours of the runoff.

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