PENDLETON, S.C. — President Donald Trump will return to South Carolina Wednesday night to hold an Upstate rally for Sen. Darline Graham, the president's hand-picked successor to represent the statewide seat formerly held by Graham's older brother Lindsey Graham.
The Pendleton rally will be Trump's second trip to South Carolina in three months to help motivate voters to back Graham in what has turned into a competitive Senate race against Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews.
Unlike Trump's Myrtle Beach rally in August, Trump will stump for Graham in the Upstate, a conservative region in South Carolina that overwhelmingly voted for outgoing Congressman Ralph Norman over Graham, who was born in Central, in the special primary election and runoff.
Since the Senate took recess in September, Graham told SCETV at a Monday fundraiser in Sumter with Gov. Henry McMaster and House Speaker Murrell Smith that she has upped her appearances in person and on radio in the area.
Graham said Trump will help boost her credibility with a Republican base of voters that has only known her for about three months.
"That's the plan, you know, that's the hope — obviously the rally is in the Upstate," Graham said. "I've been doing some radio shows and I've been spending a lot of time up there. So, hopefully, the voters will learn a little bit more about me and they'll get out and vote."
Trump's return to South Carolina comes amid the state's early-voting window and historically low unfavorability ratings for the president as the country's eight-month conflict with Iran continues, leading to spikes in gas and diesel prices at the pump as Americans combat inflation.
A new New York Times/Siena University poll reported 36% of likely voters say they approve of Trump's performance, compared with 59% who say they disapprove.
Trump's popularity in South Carolina, especially the Upstate, though, still holds — he won the state in 2024 by 18 points — what Graham hopes will trickle down into her race against Andrews, a pediatrician.
Two third-party candidates — Constitution candidate Mark Hackett and and Libertarian candidate Kasie Whitener — are also on the ballot.
A poll recently released by GOP poll firm Trafalgar Group showed among likely voters 49% favored Graham over 46% for Andrews. The poll was conducted before the Oct. 11 SCETV debate featuring Andrews, Graham and Whitener, who garnered 4% in the same survey.
The narrow poll margins have also tightened the race for ratings outlets, like the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which this week moved the race to "lean Republican" from "likely Republican."
Andrews told SCETV in Bamberg Tuesday that her strategy has been to attract a general coalition of voters not, she said, centered around political labels. That same day, Andrews released a list of Republicans supporting her bid, including former Lexington County GOP Sen. Katrina Shealy.
"We are building a coalition that is not just for Democrats who are feeling hopeful in this moment, but also for independents, who are ready for change and for Republicans who feel left behind by their own party," Andrews said. "And you know what I'm seeing from my opponent, unfortunately, is just sort of the tired old Washington attack lines that does nothing to bring us together."
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
