21-07-2025
How SC's Lindsey Graham, Annie Andrews plan to lock up Senate nominations early
Long before South Carolinians have a chance to cast ballots in the June 2026 primaries, there's efforts to try to lock up the major party nominations for U.S. Senate early.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is running for a fifth term, and Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews aiming to oust Graham, are both the front-runners for their party's nominations in the 2026 election.
Disposing of competition early on will allow them to save money for a general election. The last time Graham ran for reelection, more than $200 million was spent during the cycle in what was at the time the most expensive senate race in U.S. history.
Graham and Republicans
Graham has already locked up endorsements from President Donald Trump, Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, and his campaign has a war chest of $15.6 million.
A superPAC that aligned with Graham ran a TV ad in October of last year promoting Graham's efforts to battle illegal immigration.
Graham has assembled a 90-person fundraising committee, and is working with several of the top South Carolina GOP consultants, including Push Digital, First Tuesday Strategies and Forward Communications, keeping them from Republican challengers.
His campaign hasn't been shy about spending money early on. Graham's campaign spent more than $1.7 million in the second quarter, FEC records show, while his campaign and joint fundraising committees brought in more than $2 million.
That spending includes $209,000 on digital advertising, nearly $403,000 on direct mail, $432,000 on media and $218,000 on polling, FEC records show.
'If you've got a good story to tell, tell it as soon as you can and as often as you can. Senator Graham has a good story to tell,' said Abby Zilch, spokeswoman for the Graham campaign.
His campaign has launched its first television ad of the campaign, with a 30-second ad airing on cable and streaming platforms. The ad prominently features Trump boasting about his signature tax cut and spending bill.
'I want to thank every member of the House and Senate who worked to get this bill on my desk,' Trump says in the ad. 'And Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, what a good man he is. He's a great patriot.'
Graham's team has been attending county GOP meetings to shore up support among party activists, touting the Trump endorsement and the importance of keeping a Republican majority in the Senate.
'The reason why we are here, more than anything, is not because of who might run against us. It's not about who's running against us. It's about us showing the relationship that we have with each and every one of you and we're here to serve South Carolinians,' Graham campaign Field Director Sam Densmore told the Richland County GOP in June.
But in a Republican dominated state such as South Carolina, Graham may always have a primary election. However, in each of his previous re-election bids, he clinched the nomination without the need to go to a runoff.
In this cycle however, Graham may be facing his toughest primary challenge. The far rightwing of the party has traditionally been critical of Graham and candidates such as former Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and Greenville businessman Mark Lynch repeatedly have pounced on footage of Graham being booed at a Trump rally in Pickens.
Bauer and Lynch continue to hit Graham for being a globalist, when a wing of the party is pushing for America First and wants to avoid getting involved in international conflicts.
Graham may have been able to avoid the Bauer challenge.
According to senior senator's office, Graham spoke to Trump and the White House personnel office to get Bauer an ambassadorship to Eastern Europe or Central America after the former lieutenant governor reached out to the senator's office on a weekly basis for months. Ultimately an ambassadorship did not happen for Bauer before he opted to jump in the Senate race.
And Bauer now says he's going to put in the effort to visit each of the state's 46 counties to oust Graham.
'I'm gonna focus my attention on the people of South Carolina. I'm getting ready to hit the road, and I'm gonna cover this state like the Duke covers Dixie,' Bauer said.
'I think I can canvas the state better than anybody,' Bauer added. 'I love retail politics, and I'm going to go shake every hand of every voter I could possibly find in South Carolina.'
Bauer declined to disclose how his early fundrasing is going since entering the race on July 2. The third quarter reports are due in October.
'I think it's a lot less about money and it's a lot more about message and being able to show up at events and people receive you well. Let us not forget, I spoke for four minutes at a Trump rally to lots of cheers and applause. Lindsey Graham came behind me and spoke for six minutes of boos, and he was born in that county,' Bauer said.
Lynch put in $5 million of his own money for his bid. Outside of the millions he's put in, he has only raised $174,000 during his campaign, and only spent $195,000, FEC reports show.
Still he's putting up an appearance he's confident an anti-Graham sentiment is strong enough, releasing an internal poll from May, showing Graham only led Lynch 43% to 29%. Lynch's campaign paid Rasmussen Reports $5,000 in May for polling, FEC records show.
'We're all tired of Lindsey Graham and the state has said, the public has spoken that (Trump's) endorsement won't save Lindsey this time,' Lynch said.
Andrews building her Democratic campaign
Andrews, who kicked off her bid in May, is a pediatrician who lives in Charleston who ran against U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace in 2022 in the lowcountry congressional district. After her unsuccessful bid, Andrews built a brand posting videos to mock and criticize Republicans.
Andrews, who has made national television appearances on cable, has raised $1.2 million in her first month as a Senate candidate, according to her FEC report.
'With this kind of grassroots enthusiasm, we're not just building a campaign — we're building a movement that's rooted in hope, powered by people, and ready to take on the toughest fights,' Andrews Finance Director Renee Harvey said in a statement. 'The energy we're seeing across the state is incredible, and the best part is — we're only just getting started.'
The campaign, however, has burned a little less than half of that haul as an investment to build up a campaign infrastructure that can compete with Graham financially in a general election. Andrews also has assembled a group of veteran staffers, including several who worked on Jaime Harrison's 2020 campaign.
Her second quarter report includes nearly $328,000 in media advertising and $160,000 in text message outreach, FEC records show.
Andrews' fundraising is easily outpacing her Democratic opponents.
Andrews more productive quarter contrasted with Lee Johnson's struggles. Even though Johnson, a Greenville engineer, put in $500,000 of his own money into the campaign, he was only able to raise $67,000 in his two months on the campaign trail, according to FEC records. He ended his bid after spending $117,000.
Other candidates also don't appear to be fairing well financially.
Kyle Freeman, of Columbia, only reported having $654 cash on hand at the end of the second quarter.
Catherine Fleming Bruce, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 and state Democratic Party chair in 2023, did not raise any money in the second quarter and only had $5,000 cash on hand.
Brandon Brown, an education leader and small business owner in Greenville who joined the race in July, had a splashy kickoff with a well-produced launch video and social media presence.
His campaign manager Kerry Billings said $75,000 has been raised so far for Brown and they plan to run a lean budget to get them through the primary and a general election.
'We have a campaign of seasoned veterans behind Brandon who know that we're not in this for the short, immediate bump. We're in this long haul. We know that Annie got it first, and she created big momentum at the national level behind her campaign,' Billings said. 'But there's a lot of South Carolinians across the state who don't know who she is, and we feel that we're just going to take the case to her to South Carolinians come June.'
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