To: Interested Parties
From: 314 Action
Date: August 12, 2026
RE: Dr. Annie Andrews Is Positioned for the Biggest Upset in the Country
South Carolina Republicans could not decide who will be their nominee for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, and will now head to a runoff between Darline Graham and Ralph Norman. While Republicans scramble for a replacement, Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician and mom is positioned for the biggest upset in the country.
No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina in decades, but this is the year to break that streak. Before Lindsey Graham’s passing, Andrews had already closed the gap to three points against a three-term incumbent in a state Republicans considered safe. In head-to-head testing, Andrews leads by three points; once voters learn more about her opponent’s record, that lead expands to eleven.
Sen. Darline Graham is offering South Carolina more of the same. Darline Graham didn’t win this nomination on her own. She inherited her brother’s seat by appointment, then built her campaign around continuing it. She’s a political newcomer who’s never run for office before in her life, and her entire pitch to voters is that she’ll keep doing what her brother did for over two decades and rubber-stamp Trump’s agenda in Washington. The question now becomes, will Darline Graham also ask South Carolinians to send their sons and daughters to fight wars in the Middle East? South Carolina isn’t being offered a new direction. It’s being offered more of the same—but it’s time for someone new.
Andrews has been running for Senate for over a year. Graham has been running for a matter of weeks. Andrews has spent the year introducing herself to voters, raising $2.5 million and building a campaign operation that’s ready to run through the tape in through November. Graham and Norman are headed to a runoff on Aug. 25 with less than three months left until Election Day.
Over the next two weeks, both candidates will burn time and money in a race to the bottom as they try to prove who’s the more loyal MAGA foot soldier. For Graham’s part, she has never run a statewide general election campaign. She has to introduce herself to voters who don’t know her, defend an agenda she’s only just started to define, and build a campaign operation from scratch, all in a fraction of the time Andrews has already had. In a race this close, a head start that size can be decisive.
Voters trust doctors. They don’t trust politicians. As 314 Action Executive Director Erik Polyak put it: “South Carolina voters trust doctors, not career politicians.” Andrews is a pediatrician who has spent her career treating South Carolina’s kids. At a moment when trust in Washington is at record lows and trust in medicine remains high, that contrast is the ballgame.
Democrats broke turnout records in the South Carolina primary. South Carolina Democrats shattered early voting records this June, outpacing Republicans in early ballots cast 188,006 to 131,574 heading into primary day. That kind of early enthusiasm doesn’t happen by accident, and it’s the same energy Andrews will need to turn out in November.
At the end of the day: South Carolina is in play. Dr. Andrews enters the fall with momentum, money, and message to win in November.
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314 Action is the only national organization working to recruit, train and elect Democratic scientists across all levels of government—from the Senate down to local school boards. The organization is powered by a grassroots community of over six million people supporting scientists and health care professionals who will use science and facts to address the most urgent issues facing our generation.