BIG STORY: Candidates at 2026 election’s final stretch
ROUNDUP: Graham lets loose as tight U.S. Senate race heads to wire
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Trick or treat
BRACK: Senate race may come down to desperate vs. competent
MYSTERY PHOTO: Vista
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
Candidates at 2026 election’s final stretch
By Skyler Baldwin | Voters on Nov. 3 will decide several key races in South Carolina, including every seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and S.C. House of Representatives. A pivotal U.S. Senate seat and the governor’s office are also on Palmetto State ballots.
With election day fast approaching, voters still have until Saturday to vote early, an option more than 750,000 South Carolinians have already chosen. Early voting for the 2026 midterm elections began Oct. 19, and as of 5 p.m. Oct. 28, more than 800,000 mail-in and early in-person votes had been cast.
That number smashed the previous nonpresidential record set in 2022, when about 562,000 voters cast a ballot ahead of election day during the entire early voting period. The state’s all-time early-voting record was set in 2024, with more than 1.5 million in-person and absentee votes cast.
Charleston County Board of Registration and Elections Executive Director Isaac Cramer didn’t sound surprised by this year’s record numbers.
“[Early voting] has been popular since it was first instituted in 2022,” Cramer told the Charleston City Paper. “People are liking the convenience of voting early, and as more and more voters experience that, I expect it to become the new mode of casting a ballot.”
This year’s early voting turnout as of Oct. 28 represents about 22%of the state’s 3.7 million registered voters.
On this year’s ballot
South Carolinians are deciding several key state and federal elections in this year’s midterms.
S.C. governor
South Carolina is set to have a new governor for the first time in nearly a decade as S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster is term-limited. Vying for the office are Republican Alan Wilson, the current attorney general; Democratic nominee Jermaine Johnson, a member of the S.C. House; Green Party candidate Walid Hakim and United Citizens Party candidate Michael Addison.
A recent poll put Wilson at a double-digit lead only a week away from Election Day, with 51% of voters saying they are likely to vote or have already voted for Wilson, compared to Johnson’s 41%.
U.S. Senate
The summer death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime S.C. Republican leader nationally, flipped the 2026 U.S. Senate race on its head. The late senator’s sister, sitting U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, is going head-to-head with Democratic candidate Annie Andrews. According to recent polling from the S.C. Policy Council and The New York Times, the two are locked in a neck-and-neck race.
Pollsters point to voters’ lack of familiarity with Graham as fuel for the competitive race. Meanwhile, Andrews has been courting voters and rolling out big-name endorsements from former S.C. governors, including David Beasley, a Republican, and Jim Hodges, a Democrat.
U.S. House District 1
With U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., opting not to run for reelection to make a since-failed bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, the U.S. House seat for District 1 is up for grabs. Republican Jenny Honeycutt and Democratic nominee Nancy Lacore are the two major party candidates vying for the seat in one of the state’s most closely watched races.
The First Congressional District was long considered a Republican bastion until Democratic candidate Joe Cunningham flipped it blue in 2020. Mace took the seat back for Republicans in 2022.
Honeycutt enters the final week with a slight advantage in poll numbers, but Lacore’s military background and firm focus on affordability have made the race competitive.
Attorney general
With Wilson leaving the office behind in a bid for the governor’s chair, Democratic candidate Richard Hricik of Mount Pleasant and Republican David Stumbo of the Upstate are competing for the vacant seat. During the race, the two have outlined different approaches to public safety, law enforcement and consumer protection.
Voters are choosing a leader for the office for the first time in 16 years. Wilson’s successor will oversee the state’s legal priorities and play a leadership role in coordinating with prosecutors and law enforcement agencies across South Carolina. He will also oversee the state’s handling of high-profile legal matters, including proceedings related to the Alex Murdaugh case, which has drawn national attention and continued scrutiny through retrial proceedings.
Secretary of state
Democratic candidate Jason Belton is seeking to unseat incumbent Secretary of State Mark Hammond, a Republican. Belton is running on a platform to “restore election integrity” and bring “accountable leadership at the ballot.” The secretary of state, however, has nothing to do with ballot security, so Belton’s plan would require state lawmakers to change the office’s priorities and responsibilities.
A seven-term incumbent, Hammond ran unopposed on the Republican side. He’s said he would welcome changes to the office’s duties — but doesn’t think the legislature would go for it.
Other statewide offices
Voters will also settle several additional state-level contests. For more on these races, see the City Paper’s Oct. 16 down-ballot election preview.
For Superintendent of Education, first-term incumbent Republican Ellen Weaver faces Democratic challenger Sylvia Wright and Baba Amin Ojuok of the United Citizens Party.
In the State Treasurer race, incumbent Republican Curtis Loftis squares off against Vincent Coe.
The open Comptroller General race pits Republican Mike Burkhold against Democratic candidate Tiffany Boozer.
And the also-open Commissioner of Agriculture contest features Republican Cody Simpson, Democratic nominee DeShawn Blanding, Libertarian Michael Sullens and United Citizens’ Chris Nelums.
On voting
Early voting ends Oct. 31. Voting centers are open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On election day, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 3. Voters can vote at their polling place, based on their address. You can find your polling place at scvotes.gov.
“Voting is not just a right, but it’s an important way to exercise your voice to be heard,” Cramer said. “Regardless of what you believe — or how you feel about the direction we’re headed locally, nationally — everything is on the ballot. This is something we should all be proud to do.”
Statehouse bureau chief Jack O’Toole contributed to this report. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Graham lets loose as tight U.S. Senate race heads to wire
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | Perhaps heeding the currently fashionable political advice to meet people where they are, U.S. Sen. Darline Graham uncorked a little NSFW (not-safe-for-work) language for the MAGA faithful at a Thursday campaign rally with President Donald Trump in Rock Hill.
Hollywood socialists? They can “kiss my ass,” Graham told the crowd. And her Democratic opponent Annie Andrews, the once-longshot challenger who’s now tied with Graham in most election-eve polls? Well, “she’s just plain old bat shit crazy,” the former head of the State Commission for the Blind pronounced.
To which Andrews, who’s made affordability the cornerstone of her campaign, replied in a social media post: “Is it bat shit to want cheaper gas and groceries?”
The rally marked Trump’s second trip to the Palmetto State in support of Graham in the past nine days, a noteworthy commitment of presidential time in a normally ruby-red state like S.C. But despite significant GOP grassroots opposition, Trump has strongly backed Graham’s Senate bid since her July appointment to serve out the remaining months of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s term.
“I got you into this thing, Darline,” Trump said during Thursday’s rally. “Your brother’s looking down, he’s going to be Tuesday night. Let’s make Lindsey really happy and proud.”
Unlike Trump’s Oct. 21 rally in Clemson, which produced multiple police reports, there were no reports of violence Thursday. But in a further sign of the seemingly snakebit Graham campaign’s difficulties, the viral clip coming out of the event wasn’t presidential praise. Instead, it was a live Fox News rally interview with a man described as a Trump supporter.
“Tom, why are you here this morning?” the Fox correspondent asked.
“Well, in the late ’70s, I was a little too young to get involved and go to South America for the Jonestown massacre, but this is as close as I’ll ever get,” Tom said. “Nothing like seeing a cult right up front, man.”
“Alright, so maybe this is not a Trump supporter,” the correspondent observed, before quickly throwing back to the studio.
Nevertheless, and despite unmistakable Republican nerves about the race heading into Tuesday, old S.C. GOP hands like Charleston strategist Joel Sawyer are warning Republicans and Democrats alike not to overread the tea leaves.
“Every two years, we hear ‘But this time is different’ from S.C. Dems,” Sawyer wrote this week on X. “And it never is.”
- Senate polling finds Graham, Andrews neck-and-neck heading into election day
- Can Graham keep S.C.’s Senate seat red?
- Bipartisan former S.C. governors endorse Andrews for Senate
- Five issues dividing Graham and Andrews in S.C. Senate race
In other recent news
2026: A look at the S.C. governor’s race. For Republican Alan Wilson, the governor’s race marks the promise of a new generation of conservative leadership to “upend the status quo” in Columbia. For Democrat Jermaine Johnson, it’s a vision for a “New South Carolina,” bucking the Republican leadership that has run the state for decades.
- Johnson serves personal touch in final push for S.C. governor
- Loftis campaigns for re-election as federal securities investigation continues
- A close look at the battleground races that could break S.C. Republicans’ Statehouse supermajority
- Trump Justice Department sending election monitors to Charleston County, possibly elsewhere in S.C.
- Artful ‘I Voted’ student stickers spur early voting, streaming smiles
New S.C. law closes child abuse homicide loophole. Gov. Henry McMaster signed a new bill into law last Thursday, expanding homicide-by-child-abuse protections to all victims under 18. Before the change, homicide-by-child-abuse charges could only be filed when the victim was 11 or younger.
- New S.C. law requires restaurants to disclose imported shrimp
- S.C. lawmakers look to rein in data center boom
In federal trial, doctors question when S.C. women can get abortions. Doctors disagreed in federal court Thursday over what qualifies as a legal exception to South Carolina’s abortion ban.
S.C. school officials look to revisit standards. The S.C. Education Oversight Committee plans to recalibrate the state’s report card ratings after results of the 2026 National Assessment of Educational Progress are released early next year.
Charleston port chief says recovery underway. The South Carolina State Ports Authority is now in the second phase of a three-part comeback plan that will restore its competitiveness in the South Atlantic region, according to Micah Mallace, the authority’s president and CEO.
Trick or treat
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for shining a light on critical issues in just the right way. This week, he has a pithy comment about the Nov. 3 U.S. Senate race.
- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
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.
And don’t be surprised if you’ll soon have a Dr. Sen. Andrews.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Vista
This week as editor Andy Brack finishes his travel across the country in the Listening Across America project, we offer this picture taken somewhere along the way. It’s not in South Carolina. It might be clear what it is, but please send in your best guess of where this is – and your name and hometown – to feedback@statehousereport.com. And if you have a mystery photo to share, send that along too (but tell us what it is because we’re horrible guessers.)
Last week’s mystery, “Peacock” shows a photo of a pilot boat in Astoria, Oregon, which is an active training and base for the U.S. Coast Guard where the Columbia river enters the Pacific Ocean.
Notes Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas: “It was used between 1967 to 1999 to guide large ships safely across the Columbia River Bar. It is currently dry-docked in the parking lot of the Columbia River Maritime Museum.”
Hats off to these other sleuths who figured it out: Jay Altman and Tom Elmore, both of Columbia; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; and Bill Segars of Hartsville.
- SHARE: If you have a Mystery Photo to share, please send it to us – and make sure you tell us what it is!
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Please send us your thoughts about politics and policy in South Carolina, but make sure to leave phone numbers and hometowns to help us verify them for publication. We publish non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification – we can’t publish your views.
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Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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