Congress
Senate Democrats’ top super PAC spends in South Carolina for the first time
Senate Democrats’ top super PAC is pushing into South Carolina — just five days before the election.
Senate Majority PAC is putting $750,000 into digital ads to boost Democrat Annie Andrews, who they see as in an increasingly competitive position against GOP Sen. Darline Graham. The first spot could air as soon as Friday, and is set to attack Graham over rising costs and position Andrews as a fighter against corruption, according to plans shared first with Blue Light News.
The Chuck Schumer-aligned group’s investment comes as public polling shows a tightening race in the closing stretch. Republicans say they’re confident in Graham’s ability to hold the seat, in part because the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund recently pledged to spend at least $5 million in the race. President Donald Trump has already held two rallies in the state to boost his hand-picked senator.
“South Carolina is tightening, and Republicans know it — you don’t send $5 million and the president to a state if you’re not nervous,” SMP spokesperson Lauren French said in a statement.
“Darline Graham is an empty suit who was handed a Senate seat and has no idea what to do with it,” French added. “Annie Andrews will lower costs on gas, groceries, insurance, and housing. In a race this close, a late infusion of cash can make the difference, and that’s why we’re in.”
Representatives for Andrews and Graham did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the investment.
Even with the extensive outside support, Graham’s campaign has been weighed down by voter fatigue after several contentious primaries, questions about her political inexperience and an increasingly difficult national environment for Republicans.
The South Carolina spending marks Democrats’ newest late-stage push into deep-red Senate races as they look to leverage Americans’ frustrations with the cost of living and Trump’s agenda to keep expanding the map. If Andrews wins next week, it would mark the first time South Carolina elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998.
Strong showings by former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia have allowed SMP to draw down its spending in those erstwhile battlegrounds while pumping millions of dollars into traditionally red territory like Texas, Kansas and Mississippi.