Democrat challenger Annie Andrews leads Darline Graham by 3 points in South Carolina Senate race: Impact Research poll

A new poll in South Carolina’s US Senate race has found that Democrat Annie Andrews has a slight lead over Republican Darline Graham, who is running to capture her late brother Lindsey Graham’s seat. Graham was appointed following her brother's death and has the endorsement of President Trump.

The Impact Research poll found that 42 percent of likely voters in the state would vote for Andrews, while 39 percent of likely voters would cast their ballot for Graham. An additional six percent said they would vote for Libertarian Party candidate Kasie Whitener, while 13 percent were still undecided.

The poll found that Andrews is more popular than Graham, despite being less well known. In terms of name recognition, 56 percent said they knew of Andrews, while 78 percent said they knew of Graham. Andrews scored higher in favorability terms, with 35 percent having a favorable opinion compared to 21 percent who had an unfavorable opinion. For Graham, just 28 percent had a favorable opinion, while 50 percent had an unfavorable opinion. 

The poll was conducted between August 14 and 22 of 900 likely 2026 general election voters in South Carolina, and has a margin of error of 3.3 percent. 

In South Carolina’s June primaries, Andrews won the DEmocrat primary with 61.5 percent of the vote. Lindsay Graham had won the Republican primary with 56.7 percent of the vote, however, the longtime senator suddenly passed in July, leading to a vacancy.

In a special primary held in August, Darline Graham advanced to a runoff alongside Ralph Norman, with Graham ultimately winning the runoff with 52.4 percent of the vote. 

Andrews, a pediatrician, is running on a platform that includes creating federal law permitting abortions nationally, ending “reckless, open-ended wars,” ending tax breaks for “the ultra-wealthy and corporate polluters,” and “Banning weapons of war from our streets.”