South Carolina Senate 

Share

Latest news on the South Carolina Senate, covering the South Carolina (S.C.) Senate race, Democrat Annie Andrews, Republican Darline Graham, the seat of the late Lindsey Graham, senator Tim Scott, midterms and election results, the Senate majority, the state Senate in Columbia, and politics across the Palmetto State.

South Carolina sends two senators to Washington, each serving a six-year term. Tim Scott, a Republican appointed in 2012 and elected in 2014, was the first Black senator elected in the South since Reconstruction. The other seat was held by Lindsey Graham, a Republican who served from 2003 until his death in July 2026 at the age of 71.

After Graham's death, Governor Henry McMaster appointed his sister, Darline Graham, to the seat, and she ran for the full term as the Republican candidate. In the midterm elections of 3 November 2026, Democrat Annie Andrews, a paediatrician, was projected to win, becoming the first woman elected to the Senate from South Carolina and the first Democrat elected to the Senate there since 1998. Debate continues over affordability, health care costs and what the upset means for the Senate majority.

South Carolina politics is tied closely to place and community. From the Lowcountry coast and Charleston to Greenville, Columbia and rural towns, South Carolinians weigh health care access, affordability, education, storms and flooding, and jobs differently. The state backed Donald Trump by nearly 18 points in 2024, so a Democratic Senate win drew national attention. The 46-member state Senate in Columbia, elected every four years alongside presidential contests, has a large Republican majority.

State law provides for a temporary appointment by the governor and a special party primary to choose a new nominee when a Senate seat falls vacant, a process that put Darline Graham on the November ballot and drew national attention. Scott's 2014 win made him the first Black senator elected in the South since Reconstruction, while Andrews's win makes her the first woman elected to the Senate from the state. No Democrat had won a Senate seat in South Carolina since 1998.

The NewsNow South Carolina Senate feed brings together the latest headlines on Annie Andrews, Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, Senate race results, state Senate votes in Columbia and the wider fight for the Senate majority, from reliable sources, so South Carolinians and anyone following the Palmetto State can keep up in one place.