Andrew Stanton and Hannah Perry

Republicans Darline Graham and Ralph Norman advanced to the runoff in the South Carolina Senate primary to face off against Democrat Annie Andrews in the November general election to succeed the late Senator Lindsey Graham.

Because no candidate reached 50 percent of the vote in the special primary, the two with the most support will be advancing to the runoff. CNN and AP called the race for Graham and Norman shortly before 9 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump, Graham, the sister of the late senator, received only 32.6 percent of the vote Tuesday night, while Norman received 24 percent. There was no primary on the Democratic side, because Andrews, a pediatrician, won the nomination in June during the regular primary.

The South Carolina special primary election was held after Lindsay Graham, who had represented the state in the Senate since 2003, died on July 11 from an aortic dissection. His unexpected death shocked the Palmetto State and required Republicans to select a new candidate, as he secured the party’s nomination in June. At Trump’s recommendation, Republican Governor Henry McMaster had appointed Darline Graham to fill Lindsey Graham’s seat through the end of the current term.

Meanwhile, Andrews faces an uphill battle in South Carolina, which last voted Democratic at the presidential level in 1976.

The state backed Trump by 18 points in 2024, solidifying its status as a reliably Republican state—but some Democrats believe 2026 could be the year it becomes competitive due to Trump’s declining national approval rating and growing concerns around the cost of living and inflation.

Graham addressed her supporters after advancing to the run-off on Tuesday.

She explained why she accepted Trump’s invitation to not only fill her late brother’s senate seat until the end of his term, but to enter the race to win the seat in November.

“I decided to answer the call to serve because South Carolina and President Trump need a leader who’s tough, principled and will fight to advance our conservative values in Washington,” she said, thanking Trump for what she described his “steadfast support and his complete and total endorsement.”

Graham said that she had only been “on the job in Washington for three weeks” since taking the interim seat, but she had already passed a “major piece of bipartisan legislation through the Senate that meant so much to Lindsay, the Russia sanctions bill, which I believe will end the bloodshed in Ukraine and keep Americans safer.”

The Republican also shared her stance on several key issues including abortion, gun control, immigration and transgender athletes.

On abortion, Graham said that she “support[s] the right to life,” adding that, “I believe that every human life is sacred and deserves protection.” While on immigration, she took aim at former President Joe Biden, claiming that he had “led 12 million illegal immigrants into this country. President Trump and I are going to walk them right back out.”

Graham added that she “strongly” supports the second amendment and was against what she described as “boys” being in girls sports.

Trump welcomed the South Carolina result on Tuesday evening, telling reporters it was “great that she’s doing so well.”

“She’s a very good woman, and she’s got good genetics because she’s related to Lindsay … a real professional,” he added. “you know, I endorsed her. I think she’s great.

“It’s really in honor of her brother,” he added. “And she’s really a very smart woman. You know, Lindsey loved his sister more than anything else. He would tell me about his sister, that she’s just outstanding. Yeah, he actually said she is better than him. That was hard for Lindsay to say.”

The president said he was planning to call Graham “right now” after she’d called him to thank him for his endorsement.

On Truth Social, Trump also shared a post announcing that Graham, “endorsed by President Trump!’ “ADVANCES!”

Norman, speaking to his supporters at a South Carolina campaign event, acknowledged he may not have been voters’ first choice or event their second.

“I want to be the third and the fourth choice of everybody,” he said. “I want everybody to unite and come with us because we’ve got the right message. I’ve got a great resume that I’m proud of. I really feel like South Carolina and the country is at a tipping point. So I would tell people to let’s get involved with this race, let’s help us take it to the next level, and we can do that.”

Norman admitted that he had asked the president for his endorsement, who had declined, but said that the final decision on who will become the next South Carolina senator would be made by state voters, not Donald Trump.

“He chose who he did, and that’s fine. South Carolina is going to decide the next senator,” he added.

When it comes to Graham, Norman said he was looking forward to the debates so he could understand where she stood on key policies.

“I don’t know where she stands on a lot of issues. I think that’s where we’ll find out,” he told supporters. “You know, where does she stand on pro-life? Where does she stand on the death penalty? Where does she stand on spending? So we’ll get into the debate, which I welcome. The debate—my record is an open book. You know what I’ve done, and I will continue that because I think that we’re at a critical point.”

Andrews told Newsweek on Tuesday that she has been traversing the state and “filling rooms” while discussing issues like Medicaid cuts and gas prices with voters.

“We’ve had a steady increase in our fundraising. We’re feeling really good about the grassroots aspect of our fundraising and building our war chest and getting us ready to compete against whoever emerges from this Republican primary,” she said.

She said Republicans have continued to “race to the right” and compete to prove their loyalty to Trump, which she said is “out of step” with what she’s hearing from voters in the state. She said 2026 could be the year South Carolina flips because there is no incumbent and because believe the administration has not done enough to address concerns like gas prices.

“In this environment, this change election, this anti-incumbency environment, people are looking for political outsiders,” she said.

Key Takeaways From Tuesday’s Primary

Following Tuesday night’s primary, Graham and Norman will advance to the August 25 runoff. That gives the two candidates just a few weeks to make their case to voters to win the nomination for what Republicans believe should be a safe seat in November.

Early voting will be held on August 19-21, according to the South Carolina Election Commission.

The special election drew several prominent candidates, including Darline Graham, Representative Norman, Representative Russell Fry, former Governor Mark Sanford and Mark Lynch, a conservative who lost to Lindsey Graham in the June primary.

Trump’s endorsement of Graham made her the front-runner for the South Carolina race on Tuesday, but his support wasn’t enough to win the special primary outright.

Prior to the race, polls had suggested a tight race with no candidate as a clear front-runner despite Trump’s endorsement and support for Darline Graham.

Annie Andrews’ Chances of Flipping South Carolina Senate Seat

Polling on the South Carolina seat has been limited as it had been unclear who the Republican Party’s candidate would be. Andrews’ campaign released an internal poll showing a tight race, but no independent surveys have been made public to back that up; independent polling is generally seen as more reliable than internal polling.

It showed Andrews with a 3-point lead over Lynch, 41 percent to 38 percent, and a single-point lead over Sanford, 41 percent to 40 percent. She also led Fry by 3 points, 42 percent to 39 percent, though Norman held a single-point lead, 43 percent to 42 percent.

It was conducted among 577 South Carolina voters from July 16-17, 2026, by Public Policy Polling and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Other metrics are more favorable to Republicans.

Prediction markets give Republicans a large advantage. Republicans had an 87 percent chance of winning the seat on Kalshi and a 91 percent chance on Polymarket as of Tuesday evening.

Prediction markets allow traders to buy and sell contracts tied to political outcomes and current events, aggregating real‑money wagers into probability estimates. Prices fluctuate as traders react to polling, fundraising, candidate developments and broader political trends. They measure trader sentiment at a given moment but do not always accurately predict the future.

Elections forecasters also favored Republicans, with both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rating the race as safe or solid for the GOP.

Andrews told Newsweek in July that she believes the race can be competitive and that she has heard from Republicans on the campaign trail that their party has become too extreme.

“When I talk to Republicans, as I do at nearly every one of our campaign events, they talk about the fact that they don’t recognize their own party anymore, and they want their party to come back to the center-right, to be the party of John McCain,” she said.

South Carolina Is Historically Republican State

At the presidential level, South Carolina last voted for a Democratic candidate—former President Jimmy Carter—in 1976 and has given double-digit victories to Republicans in recent cycles. Trump won by 18 points in 2024, nearly 12 points in 2020 and 14 points in 2016. The state backed Mitt Romney by 10 points in 2012 and John McCain by 9 points in 2008.

South Carolina last elected a Democratic senator in 1998, when it sent Ernest Hollings to Congress’ upper chamber.

Democrats have tried to make the state competitive in recent cycles, and they generally have a high floor but low ceiling there. It’s home to a high population of Black voters, and cities like Charleston and Columbia are more Democratic. But the more rural areas and suburbs, and a high level of racial polarization, have continued to give an advantage to the GOP.

In 2020, Democrat Jaime Harrison drew significant media attention and fundraising in his bid to unseat Graham but ended up losing by about 10 points. In 2018, the most recent “blue wave” election cycle, McMaster won by 8 points, a relatively close race by South Carolina standards.