South Carolina Senate Race Results: Annie Andrews vs Darline Graham for Lindsey Graham's Seat

NBC News, based on AP data, projects Annie Andrews as the winner of the South Carolina Senate race against Darline Graham. At 19:13 CET the count stood at 51.1 to 46.7 percent with 99.0 percent counted. It is the first Democratic Senate win in South Carolina since 1998, and Donald Trump won South Carolina in 2024 with 1,483,747 votes to 1,028,452 for Kamala Harris, a margin of 17.9 points. The Republican on the ballot is not the Graham many readers expect: Lindsey Graham, who held the seat from 2003, died on 11 July 2026, and his sister Darline Graham was appointed to it and then won a special Republican runoff against Representative Ralph Norman with 52.5 percent.

South Carolina Senate race: the key facts

• Status (19:13 CET): Andrews 1,042,362 votes (51.1 percent), Graham 951,165 (46.7 percent), 99.0 percent counted.
• Governor: NBC News projects Alan Wilson as the winner over Jermaine Johnson, 51.6 to 47.1 percent with 99 percent counted.
• 2024: Donald Trump won South Carolina in 2024 with 1,483,747 votes to 1,028,452 for Kamala Harris, a margin of 17.9 points.
• A first either way: the winner is expected to be the first woman elected to the Senate from South Carolina.
• Crypto and AI money: $4.8 million from three super PACs for Darline Graham, according to Tech Influence Watch.
• Prediction market: the race is called; see Polymarket for the settled market.

South Carolina election results: read the count with care

By type of vote, Andrews against Graham so far: mail ballots 67 to 31 percent, early in-person votes 59 to 39 percent, Election Day votes 41 to 55 percent. Polls in South Carolina closed at 01:00 CET. Almost every area has reported most of its vote. With the race called, the remaining votes only change the final margin.

South Carolina 2024 vs 2026: where the counties moved

Charleston County went from D+5.7 in the 2024 presidential race to D+26.1 now, with 99 percent counted. Greenville County went from R+22.2 in the 2024 presidential race to D+2.2 now, with 99 percent counted. Richland County, home to Columbia, went from D+34.6 in the 2024 presidential race to D+53.2 now, with 95 percent counted. Across the larger areas with at least half of the count in, the margin moved 21.6 points toward Democrats on average. These figures compare a partial Senate count with a full presidential count, so the final swing can still change. Trump voters who stayed home and Republicans who split their ticket look the same in this table.

Who are Annie Andrews and Darline Graham?

Annie Andrews is a Democratic pediatrician who previously ran against Nancy Mace and won her party's nomination with 61.5 percent over Brandon Brown. Darline Graham sat on the South Carolina Commission for the Blind from 2019 to 2026 before she was appointed to her brother's seat in July. She ran with the backing of President Donald Trump and is the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate.

South Carolina Senate race and crypto: where the money went

Crypto and AI money backed the Republican side. Tech Influence Watch, the tracker formerly known as Follow the Crypto, lists $4,801,981 from Fellowship PAC, Building the Future and American Mission for Darline Graham in the runoff and the general election. Fellowship PAC, the crypto committee led by Tether's head of government affairs, accounts for $550,000 across the Senate race. The same three committees spent $924,286 for Lindsey Graham in the June primary. For Andrews, the tracker lists no PAC spending.

The advocacy group Stand With Crypto gives Darline Graham a score of 100 and shows no rating for Andrews. That gap matters for the next attempt at a market structure law. The CLARITY Act failed a Senate vote to open debate 49 to 50 on 15 September, with no Democrat voting yes, and it needs 60 votes. A Republican seat lost in South Carolina is one more vote the industry has to win from scratch. Where the bill stands is in our CLARITY Act explainer.

Why South Carolina matters for the Senate majority

Republicans went into the night with 53 seats, so Democrats need a net gain of four for the majority. NBC News projects Democrats to control the Senate, with 54 seats for Democrats and 44 for Republicans at 19:13 CET. South Carolina was not among the toss-ups MS NOW named before the vote, which makes it one of the most telling results of the night. All calls and the full Senate table are in our midterm results live ticker. More from the states: Texas and the Bitcoin reserve, crypto's $50 million bet against Sherrod Brown and the biggest changes since 2024.

What Polymarket says about South Carolina

With the race called, the prediction market has little left to price. The open question for traders is the balance of power in Washington. If you hold coins through a week like this, compare regulated crypto exchanges and crypto brokers first. This article is not investment advice.

Title photo: HaloMasterMind, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.