ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump was in South Carolina for the second time in a month on Thursday to encourage Republicans to show up for Darline Graham, who is spending the final days of the midterm election trying to fend off a robust challenge from Democrat Annie Andrews for a critical U.S. Senate seat.
Voters in South Carolina have not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly three decades. But Andrews, a pediatrician who previously ran unsuccessfully for Congress, is urging voters seeking change to “try something new for once.”
Senate races are often an afterthought in this Republican stronghold. Andrews has mounted an unexpectedly competitive race against Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. She was appointed in July by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to fill the remaining months of her brother’s term after his sudden death. In August, she became the party's nominee to succeed him for a full six-year term.
“He was a great politician,” Trump said of Lindsey Graham, before promoting Darline Graham as his elected successor. “She's got the gene.”
Speaking before Trump, Darline Graham commended the president for having “delivered what Washington promised for decades” and she warned that Andrews “would just throw it all away."
Andrews appeared in nearby Fort Mill on Wednesday, where she said that if voters elect her and become unhappy with her performance on Capitol Hill, “you can fire me in six years.”
“I promise that I won’t let you down, that I’m going to win you all over,” she said.
Andrews' success on Tuesday, Election Day, will likely hinge on winning support from disaffected Republicans like Brent Chaplin. The 37-year-old who works in finance and accounting said he's a registered Republican, “but it's hard to be that right now.”
He said he voted for Andrews and encouraged voters to think beyond partisan politics.
“You just can't go and say I'm a Republican, I'm just going to vote Republican,” said Chaplin, who voted for Trump in 2016. “You've got to put some brainpower into it and think about it. So hopefully it is a message to the powers that be to wake up, pick better candidates.”
Benjamin Updegraft, a 32-year-old software engineer, expressed frustration that the Senate seat might stay in the Graham family.
“The Senate is not an inherited position,” he said. “This is not a country where these noble titles are passed down between families.”
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Sloan and Kinnard reported from Washington.
