Race between sibling of former Senator Lindsey Graham, Democrat Annie Andrews has tightened in deep-red state.

United States President Donald Trump is set to travel to South Carolina to boost the campaign of Darline Graham, the sister of his close ally, the late Senator Lindsey Graham.

The visit on Wednesday, which will include a rally alongside Graham, comes as the Senate race in deep-red South Carolina has grown uncomfortably close for Republicans.

Lindsey Graham, long one of the most hawkish members of the Senate who was an outspoken supporter of the US-Israel war on Iran, had been expected to sail to victory in the November 3 vote. But his unexpected death in July upended the race.

South Carolina’s governor tapped Darline Graham to finish her brother’s term. Trump then made the surprise move of endorsing Graham in a new Republican primary, helping her to claim the party’s nomination. The president said the endorsement was “in honour of her brother”.

In a video message last week, Trump again said Graham had his unconditional support.

“I’m asking everyone in South Carolina to get out and vote for a wonderful person, a great woman … a woman that Lindsey Graham said is the greatest person he’s ever met,” Trump said.

Democratic challenger Annie Andrews, a medical doctor and paediatrician, has seized on Graham’s inexperience and her unorthodox route to the Republican nomination.

Speaking to a local Fox News affiliate before Trump’s rally in Pendleton, South Carolina, Andrews pointed to Graham’s lacklustre debate performance, including one instance where she said she was “not that informed on national security”.

“My opponent needs the highest level of federal government politicians to speak for her. On the debate stage, it was really clear,” Andrews said.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/21/trump-heads-to-south-carolina-to-boost-senator-darline-graham-in-race?traffic_source=rss