Republican Sen. Darline Graham of South Carolina and Democratic challenger Annie Andrews faced off Sunday night in their first and perhaps only debate of the general election, centering around President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” high gas and goods costs, the war in Iran and AI data centers.
South Carolina is a ruby red state where Trump remains popular among Republican voters. But the race has tightened in the latter part of the campaign, and Democrats believe they have a chance to eliminate Graham, who was nominated to fill his brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat after his sudden death in July. The Senate Republican super PAC has pledged to spend $5 million to support Graham’s campaign.
At the start of the debate, hosted in Columbia by ETV of South Carolina, Darline Graham noted that Sunday evening marked exactly three months since her brother’s sudden death at the age of 71.
Andrews, a pediatrician, sought to portray Graham, who previously headed a state agency, as an inexperienced, empty suit who refuses to stand up to Trump or his unpopular policies. She mocked Graham as the “White House ambassador to South Carolina.”
Graham attacked Andrews as the “most radical liberal” to run in South Carolina and as a sympathizer of the Democratic Socialist Party. “Annie Andrews is not going to stand up to the Democratic Socialist Party; she’s just going to join them,” Graham said – a characterization Andrews rejected.
Graham was “told to come here and call me Bernie, Ocasio, Mamdani — that’s what’s in his script. But the truth is my name is Annie Andrews, and there should be no confusion about that,” Andrews said. “The truth is I support the Second Amendment, I believe we need a secure border and we need to deport illegal immigrants who break the law. … The real difference between me and Senator Graham is that I will stand up to my own party and always put South Carolina first.”
Graham and Andrews are running for full six-year Senate terms; the winner will make history as South Carolina’s first elected female senator. The debate also featured libertarian Kasie Whitener.
Graham and Andrews fought over issue after issue. As the country faces Social Security insolvency, Andrews said she would raise the caps to make wealthier people pay more, but would not raise the retirement age. She added that Republicans like Graham want to privatize Social Security so that “Washington insiders” can profit. “Unfortunately, my opponent is in the race to do what Washington insiders tell him,” she said.
Graham countered that she understood what people in her state were facing. When her parents died at a young age, Social Security benefits helped her and her brother survive. Graham said Andrews’ criticism of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” was misplaced because it cut taxes on tipping and Social Security. “You called it a big, ugly bill, so you’re misleading the people of South Carolina here,” Graham said.
Regarding affordability, Graham said she has already “lived paycheck to paycheck” and acknowledged that “gas prices are high right now…I feel the pain too.” She said she supports suspending the gas tax and that loosening regulations on drilling would lead to permanently lower prices.
Andrews placed blame for high gas prices on Graham, who she said repeatedly voted against a war powers resolution aimed at restricting Trump’s war with Iran.
“The war is the exact reason we have record gasoline and diesel prices today. Farmers are being crushed and everything is costing more,” Andrews said. “My opponent is the only one who had the opportunity to vote to end the war, but three times in a row she voted to continue it. »
Andrews also criticized Graham for admitting in an earlier debate that “national security is not my thing.” “South Carolina, if your surgeon said appendectomies aren’t really his thing, would you still give him a scalpel? No,” Andrews said. “So why would we give Darline Graham a full term in the US Senate? She is neither serious nor qualified.”
Graham countered that she wanted the war to end, like everyone else, but said she believed in “peace through strength.” Then she went after Andrews over the national security joke.
“But talking about what’s not my thing, let’s talk about what’s not your thing. Apparently your thing isn’t being honest with the people of South Carolina. At least I’m honest. If I don’t know something, I’m happy to say it, and I’ll say it again tonight,” Graham said, without being specific. “But you did it, you are misleading the people of South Carolina. You have flip-flopped on everything. There are so many social media posts to prove it. Shame on you!”
The proliferation of data centers, which power artificial intelligence companies, has become a major flashpoint in the midterm elections.
Andrews lashed out at Graham over the issue, dubbing her “Data Center Darline.” Andrews said his data center plan includes a “two-year moratorium, protections to ensure your rates don’t go up, and a return to true local control.”
Graham countered that stopping construction of all data centers would allow China to win the race for AI dominance. She said she voted for the Taxpayer Protection Act, which aims to shift the higher energy costs of building data centers from consumers to AI companies.
“Under Bernie Sanders’ plan, a two-year moratorium, it’s dangerous for our country’s national security, because in two years China will be so far ahead that we’ll have so many problems,” Graham said, adding that local communities should decide whether data centers will be built in their backyard.
“I want the communities to decide. She wants the federal government to decide.”
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