Donald Trump has suffered one of the most humiliating defeats of his presidency after Democrats pulled off an extraordinary Senate upset against Darline Graham in South Carolina.
Democrat and pediatrician Annie Andrews has defeated Graham, 62, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, in a state Republicans had long considered safe.
Trump had personally invested in Graham’s campaign, repeatedly appearing alongside her and throwing his considerable political weight behind a candidate who entered the race with little political experience.
“We have to make sure she gets in. She’s really spectacular,” he said last week.
“Lindsey was a great politician who loved this state so much... She’s got that same gene, and I think she’s going to do really well.”
But her lack of experience became an obvious vulnerability as Democrats mounted a growing challenge.
That inexperience exploded to the fore during her first debate when she confessed her ignorance of national security, her brother’s signature issue.
Former South Carolina Republican governor Nikki Haley, who backed Ralph Norman during Graham’s primary race, said the foreign policy lapse was “disqualifying.”
Norman, meanwhile, said this month that he would reluctantly vote for the Republican candidate—but his family would not.
“I’m going to do what I said personally,” he told a local radio station.
“My family is not going to vote for Darline Graham. They’re just not.”
“Now, they’re grown and with their own children can do what they want, but I will because I promised to do that,” he continued. “But that’s about as clear as I can make it.”
Andrews is a 45-year-old pediatrician and mother of three who is running an “America First” campaign designed to flip the script in a longstanding GOP stronghold by focusing on affordability, healthcare, and “Washington dysfunction.”
Speaking to the Daily Beast ahead of the result, Democrat strategist Antjuan Seawright, who is based in South Carolina, said he was “nauseously optimistic” that Andrews could pull off an upset, noting that both sides of politics agreed Graham had run a weak campaign.
“This is the first election in my lifetime, and I’m 42, where people are actually feeling the pain that the Republicans have caused,” he said.
“This is a truth and accountability election.”
Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse described Andrews as a healthcare champion.
“Republicans really thought they could get away with slashing Medicaid by $1 trillion and ripping away health care tax credits more than 20 million Americans relied on to afford health care, all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
“They messed around and found out, and now Democrats like Annie Andrews will come to Washington with a mandate to fix what Trump broke.”
Speaking on Fox, host and former White House press secretary Dana Perino acknowledged health care was an issue for many voters.
“Even if they’re spending at the grocery stores or even at the at the shops or they’re going to the mall, they feel that their healthcare is just way too expensive, and neither party has done a good job of this,” she said.
