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A key Republican Super PAC is putting $5 million to support Sen. Darline Graham in the South Carolina Senate race, sources familiar with the investment confirmed on Tuesday, as President Trump is escalating his attacks against her opponent, Democrat Annie Andrews.
The investment from the Senate Leadership Fund, the main Republican Super PAC, is a sign the party is concerned about the race, even though South Carolina is a solidly red state. President Trump won the state by 18 points in 2024 and Graham’s late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, won by 10 points in 2020, despite having a well-funded opponent in Democrat Jamie Harrison. Winning South Carolina has been at best a distant dream for Democrats since the end of the 20th century.
The $5 million investment was first reported by Axios.
South Carolina GOP Senate nominee Darline Graham was appointed to the seat in July after the death of her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Mr. Trump who had been in the Senate since 2003. Lindsey Graham had won a primary for the seat just weeks before his sudden death, and Darline Graham then won a subsequent special primary to be on the ballot in November.
Mr. Trump has campaigned heavily for Darline Graham, and posted an attack on social media against Andrews using an anti-transgender slur.
“Annie ‘Trannie’ Andrews is running against our wonderful Darline Graham for the Senate in South Carolina,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Monday.
Andrews, a pediatrician, has said she does not support gender transition surgery for minors, but she had in the past voiced opposition to a bill that would ban transgender athletes in sports. She told The New York Times last week that she does not “support biological men playing in women’s sports.”
The most resonant campaign ad in 2024 seized on transgender issues as an emblem of the cultural divide in America: “Kamala is for they/them President Trump is for you.” This year, some Republicans are trying to replicate that effort and tie their Democratic opponents to transgender issues, although it’s unclear if it’s been as successful.
Andrews responded late Monday without mentioning Mr. Trump’s comments directly, but noted “if you care more about your bills than the politics in Washington, this campaign is for you.”
Republican former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley told CBS News that Mr. Trump’s comments on Andrews were “such a disgrace.”
Beasley, who previously served as executive director of the World Food Programme, also called the post “abhorrent” on social media.
“Elections don’t have to be about cruelty and lies,” he wrote. “South Carolina deserves better. I urge voters to look at the merits of each candidate and cast their vote accordingly. We must reject politics based on division and hate”
