Brack: Senate race may come down to desperate vs. competent

Commentary by Andy Brack | Think back a year in South Carolina politics. Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham had millions of dollars in the bank and friends in very high places. On paper and in practice, he was cruising toward another six-year term. Any Democratic challenger was more of a speedbump than anything.

At the same time, Charleston-area Dr. Annie Andrews thought she could win the Senate seat and become the first woman doctor in the upper chamber. She had firmness of conviction and the hard-charging drive to win. But few in ruby-red South Carolina gave her much of a chance.

My, how the times have changed. Andrews is knocking on the door to win the Senate race. She would become the first Democrat elected to the Senate since Fritz Hollings stepped away from politics in 2005.

So what happened? First, Graham died suddenly in July. Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham Nardone, his sister, to replace Graham. And she got the enthusiastic backing of President Donald Trump, which may not turn out to have the power it once had.

Then the new Sen. Graham, as she is now known, sputtered in a special GOP primary runoff, only to beat retiring U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, by a four-point margin. It didn’t help that Graham said foreign policy – one of her brother’s specialties – wasn’t much of “her thing” during a runoff debate, leading many to question her qualifications to be a senator.

Norman, fresh off a June defeat to be the party’s gubernatorial candidate, also had name recognition from spending millions as well as a base of Upstate support from the GOP right so frustrated with Lindsey Graham over the years that they didn’t want his sister in office.

In the two months since becoming the GOP’s candidate for the six-year term, Graham has done little campaigning, particularly in the Lowcountry where Andrews, who has been to all of the state’s 46 counties, lives. She’s also done little in the Senate to make a name for herself, other than being what many call Trump’s puppet. And she’s taken millions of dollars from outside groups, including those aligned with data centers, which are fuel for an increasingly unpopular issue in the Palmetto State.

Meanwhile, Andrews hasn’t backed down, almost making political guerrilla raids in the race by talking about the things people are talking about – data centers, health care accessibility and high prices for everything from gas, housing and electricity to beef and everyday groceries.

Andrews has so chipped away at Graham that a new poll by The New York Times showed the race as a toss-up, with both candidates at 48%. Even conservative Fox News this week changed the race from “leans Republican” to “toss-up.”

Andrews pulled off other political coups, knowingly and unknowingly. She got a strong endorsement from two former governors – the GOP’s David Beasley and the Democrats’ Jim Hodges – which surprised some. And in the last week, some in the GOP seem to be in open revolt, seemingly irritated that the national party and Trump are trying to tell them what to do – something that South Carolinians don’t like.

According to an Oct. 29 piece in The Washington Post, Norman questioned why Trump made two campaign stops this week in South Carolina to prop up Graham’s campaign.

“All the places we’re in trouble in the country, and he’s coming to Rock Hill, South Carolina,” Norman said. In the report, he also called Graham a “‘propped-up candidate’ and said Trump’s team is trying to ‘shore her up’ in what is usually a safe Republican seat.”

And former GOP Gov. Mark Sanford, who was one of 10 candidates in the special Republican primary for the seat, said in the same story that some Republicans resented Graham’s candidacy: “They don’t want to vote Democratic, but at the same time they’re concerned about competency and allegiance issues. They don’t like the idea of a puppet, somebody who will do as told by the president,” he told the Post.

And it certainly didn’t help this week when Graham resorted to name-calling, but saying Andrews was “batsh*t crazy” – particularly when she has seemed logical, calm and the opposite or crazy over the last year.

So on to Nov. where the race for U.S. Senate seems to be between desperate and competent.