PENDLETON — President Donald Trump rallied in the Upstate to boost GOP support for U.S. Sen. Darline Graham’s campaign, while discounting polls suggesting the seat her late brother held for almost 24 years could flip blue.
The race between Graham and Democrat Annie Andrews shouldn’t be close, he told thousands of supporters in a county he won by 47 percentage points two years ago.
Trump acknowledged that polls show otherwise by jokingly asking if he was in the right state: “Are you sure this is South Carolina?”
The rally came a day after the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted the race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican,” and Andrews launched a “Republicans for Annie” coalition she said consisted of more than 100 Republicans in South Carolina. Her list included former state Sen. Katrina Shealy of Lexington County, where Graham lives.
“I’m not a believer in the pollsters. I really am not,” Trump said.
“Nov. 3 is the only pollster that counts,” he said, telling rallygoers “you have to go out and vote for Darline Graham. She’s you. She’s solid.”
But Andrews, he said, is a “radical left lunatic.” He pointed to her F rating from the NRA to mean “she wants to take your guns away.”
Andrews, a pediatrician, is a former volunteer for the Moms Demand Action gun safety group and, for two years, a paid adviser for its affiliate, Everytown for Gun Safety. Her platform includes “banning weapons of war from our streets,” which she has said includes AR-15-style rifles.
Trump also hammered Andrews over her advocacy at the Statehouse opposing legislation, which became law in 2024, barring hormone treatments and puberty blockers for transgender minors. He falsely accused her of supporting “mutilation” of children. And he again referred to her using a slur for transgender people, repeating what he wrote in a social media post earlier this month.
The TV ad Andrews released to explain her positions, including that she doesn’t support “gender surgery for minors,” drew criticism from LGBTQ+ groups that objected to her phrasing.
Other speakers
The rally inside Clemson University’s T. Ed Garrison Arena was only a few miles from Graham’s hometown of Central, where she and Lindsey Graham grew up in the back room of a restaurant and pool hall owned by their parents, who died 15 months apart when she was 13. Part of her campaign message is that she can relate to struggling American families.
“This area, and most importantly, its values are ingrained in me: God, family, country,” Graham said on stage. “Those are our values, and I want to take them to a place that’s desperately needed: the United States Senate.”
Other Republicans who took the stage included South Carolina’s now-senior U.S. senator, Tim Scott; U.S. Rep. Sheri Biggs of the 3rd District (where the rally was held); Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a South Carolina native; and Cody Simpson, the GOP nominee for agriculture commissioner.
Gov. Henry McMaster, who’s leaving office in January, called Graham “one of us.” It was McMaster who appointed her to fulfill her brother’s fourth term, which ends in January. She jumped into the race for the next term with Trump’s encouragement and endorsement.
She again thanked him for that.
“Thank you so much for coming to South Carolina. I am so honored to have your endorsement,” she said. “You are one of Lindsey’s dearest friends. You will always be part of the Graham family.”
GOP feuding
Graham’s supporters on stage also included a former opponent, U.S. Rep. Russell Fry of the 7th District, who placed third in the special GOP primary in August.
But GOP infighting from that primary continues.
Trump rallied in a region of the state won by Graham’s runoff opponent, 5th District Rep. Ralph Norman. He took all 12 counties in the deeply red Upstate, while Graham won the state’s 34 other counties. Graham needs Norman’s Upstate supporters to come out and vote for her.
But some of Norman’s supporters are encouraging Republicans to write his name on the ballot instead of voting for Graham. Norman was not at the rally and said during a radio interview earlier Wednesday that he refuses to help her campaign. He’ll still vote for her, since he promised to support the GOP nominee, he said on “The Nashional Briefing with Kelly Nash.”
However, he said, “My family is not going to vote for Darline Graham. They’re just not.” He contends the contest wouldn’t be close if he was the nominee.
Biggs alluded to the intra-party spat by urging Republicans to come together and vote for Graham, likening the party to a “big family” that doesn’t always agree.
“Sometimes we even squabble a little bit,” she said. “But when it’s time to vote, we need to stand together, and we need to send Republicans back to Washington to finish the job that President Trump started.”
Trump invited two sports celebrities on stage: championship boxer Evander Holyfield and professional golfer Jacob Bridgeman, a Clemson graduate.
Giving people another reason to vote, Trump reiterated his pledge to give every adult U.S. citizen $5,000. Congress would have to approve that. And that can only happen if Republicans win, he told the audience.
The money will come through tariffs, he said, which Democrats want to stop.
The widely criticized promise is expected to cost more than $1 trillion. Recognizing that people don’t believe the payment will actually happen, Trump pointed to the $1,776 one-time bonus that went to active-duty military last December.
What voters said
As he did at his Myrtle Beach rally for Graham ahead of the GOP runoff, Trump told attendees to pretend he’s on the ballot.
But Trump’s backing doesn’t automatically win support for Graham, even among people lining up for the rally.
Gary Hawkins, of Anderson, said he was there to see Trump.
“It means a lot that he took the time to come to Upstate South Carolina. This is a red state, red county, and I believe he stands up for the values in our community,” said the 52-year-old attending his first Trump rally. “So, I’m here to support that.”
But he’s not sure he’ll vote for Graham.
“She just fell into place because of who her brother is,” Hawkins said.
Others thought Trump’s visit will increase turnout among GOP voters and help Graham win.
“I hope they will. I think they will, partially because President Trump supports her so much,” said Amy Rozelle, a speech pathologist from Spartanburg.
Jennifer Lewis, also from Spartanburg, said she’s been a Trump supporter for years, “and it is amazing for him to be in our neighborhood.”
She was going to vote for the GOP nominees anyway, she said, adding “I also trust Trump’s recommendations as well.”
Gabriel Brey, who came from North Augusta with his 8-month-old daughter, said he wasn’t going to miss out on the “pep rally for adults.” He noted the rarity of a presidential visit in South Carolina ahead of a November election.
“It’s not historically a battleground state,” he said. “We wanted our baby to see a president for the first time.”
Andrews’ welcome
Ahead of Trump’s visit, Andrews’ campaign put out a statement welcoming him to the state. “I hope he hears directly from the families, farmers, and workers who are paying more every month for groceries, gas, diesel, and health care, with the war in Iran driving prices even higher,” she said in the statement.
She also accused Graham of not having the “backbone” to stand up to Trump.
“Sen. Graham must do more than play politics — she needs to fight for South Carolina,” she said. “She’s asking President Trump to help her win an election, but she needs to ask him to end this war and lower costs for the families she represents.”
On Iran, Trump praised last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer and said “we’re close” to ending the war that began Feb. 28 with joint U.S. and Israeli air strikes.
Trump’s roughly 90-minute speech was briefly interrupted several times by protesters who yelled out, but they were quickly escorted outside.
The president praised officers’ speed: “Your law enforcement is fantastic! Man, they are so fast!” he said.
Katharine Wilson writes about politics for the SC Daily Gazette. Before joining the publication, she wrote about local and state politics for The Baltimore Sun.
Seanna Adcox is a South Carolina native with three decades of reporting experience. After covering the S.C. Legislature and state politics for 18 years. she launched the SC Daily Gazette in November 2023 as the 37th state affiliate under the States Newsroom umbrella. Her previous employers include The Post and Courier and The Associated Press.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Republicans call Annie Andrews ‘anti-gun.’ She explains her platform to end gun violence.
BY KATHARINE WILSON - OCTOBER 23, 2026 6:30 AM
WINNSBORO — The Democrat running for Senate in South Carolina responded Thursday to President Donald Trump painting her as an “anti-gun extremist.”
Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, said her experiences caring for children who unintentionally shot themselves after finding an unsecured gun prompted her into activism.
“It takes one of those experiences to make you want to do something about that,” Andrews said.
Andrews’ former job with Everytown for Gun Safety involved creating a pilot program to train medical students on how to talk to parents about safe gun storage to prevent shootings, according to her campaign.
Her explanations came a day after Trump told rallygoers in Anderson County that “she wants to take your guns away,” and hours before her opponent, GOP Sen. Darline Graham, summed up Andrews’ role with the nation’s largest gun violence prevention group as a “paid anti-gun activist.”
With polls showing an unexpectedly tight race less than two weeks before Election Day, Republicans are putting a spotlight on Andrews’ positions for ending gun violence.
“Andrews has made a living working for a gun control group, hell-bent on gutting the Second Amendment and taking your guns,” Graham told reporters in Columbia.
That’s a serious accusation in South Carolina, where legislators passed the “constitutional carry” law two years ago allowing adults to carry a handgun without a permit.
But Andrews said she respects the Second Amendment; she just wants to protect children.
“I don’t want to take anyone’s guns,” she said after a town hall meeting with voters in rural Fairfield County. It marked the completion of her campaign goal to visit with voters in all 46 counties.
“My platform to address the public health crisis of gun violence does not infringe on the Second Amendment,” Andrews said. “I support the Second Amendment, law-abiding citizens’ rights to own firearms, but I know we need to do something about this public health crisis.”
At the top of her list is “universal background checks,” which would extend federal requirements for FBI background checks, mandated for all firearm sales at or shipped to licensed retailers, to private gun sales or transfers. Gun enthusiasts argue it’s unenforceable without a mandatory gun registry, which they oppose.
On Wednesday night, Trump said Andrews wants to ban “the most popular firearms in America.” He didn’t say what kind.
Andrews has advocated in the past for banning AR-15-style rifles.
And her website says she wants to ban “weapons of war on our streets.” Asked Thursday to be specific, Andrews said she “believes military-grade machine guns and weapons of mass destruction should remain limited under existing law.”
Everytown and the NRA
At her news conference in Columbia, Graham put Andrews’ earnings from Everytown for Gun Safety on a posterboard as a backdrop.
In her candidate financial disclosure, Andrews reported receiving more than $130,000 total from Everytown in 2024 and 2025: about $96,000 from the nonprofit and $35,000 from its political lobbying arm.
She worked for them from May 2023 to May 2025. Though paid separately, her roles for both entities involved “gun violence prevention in medical education and media appearances,” reads her December 2025 filing.
She also reported a salary of $97,000 from the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., a job her campaign has said involved conducting research and teaching, in addition to seeing patients. She left that job in June to campaign.
At the rally, Trump pointed to Andrews’ “F” rating from the National Rifle Association as evidence of her extremism. But an F for a Democrat is standard for the gun rights group.
Graham has an “A” rating and an endorsement from the NRA.
“To me, gun control is how steady you hold your weapon,” she said on stage Wednesday night.
Andrews’ endorsers include her former employer, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund; and Giffords, the anti-gun-violence lobbying nonprofit led by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011 while meeting with constituents in Tucson, Arizona.
Asked about Trump’s rally in the Upstate, Andrews said it shows “the weakness” of her opponent.
“This race is very close,” Andrews said. “He stood on that stage and said horrible things about me, dishonest things about me. If doing that was going to lower gas prices and grocery prices and keep our rural hospitals open, he can say whatever he wants to say. But we know that’s not a path to solving the problems South Carolinians are facing.”
Andrews was scheduled to hold a news conference Friday in Orangeburg County with “more than 10 South Carolina sheriffs” endorsing her, according to her campaign announcement. It comes a week after Graham held a “back the blue” news conference in Greenville to tout endorsements from sheriffs.
The Senate race in South Carolina was upended when Graham’s older brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, died of a ruptured aorta July 11, a month after defeating five GOP opponents toward a fifth term.
Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to fill the remainder of the term ending in January. She advanced to the contest with Andrews after winning a 10-way GOP special primary in August.
Katharine Wilson writes about politics for the SC Daily Gazette. Before joining the publication, she wrote about local and state politics for The Baltimore Sun.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
