South Carolina flips after Trump’s pick falls short
South Carolina Senate race results on Tuesday delivered a sharp midterm surprise: Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, won the state’s US Senate seat over Darline Graham, the candidate President Donald Trump had urged to run. The outcome came in a state Trump carried by nearly 18 percentage points only two years earlier, and in a contest that neither party treated as competitive until recent weeks.
Andrews is the first Democrat to win a South Carolina Senate seat in 28 years. After the death of Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham, his sister Darline was appointed to the seat and encouraged by Trump to seek a full six-year term. Campaigns and observers pointed to her limited political experience as a liability against Andrews.
Two seats toward a Senate majority
Andrews’ victory, together with Democrat Roy Cooper’s win in North Carolina’s Senate race, gave Democrats two of the four seats they need to net to take control of the chamber. Democrats also held onto Senate seats in Georgia and New Hampshire—races once seen as competitive that moved beyond Republican reach as Trump’s approval ratings declined.
It remained too early to say whether Democrats could match those performances in other critical contests that will decide the majority, including Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, Maine, Ohio and Texas, where millions of votes were still uncounted. US election results so far already pointed to a broader Democratic surge into traditionally Republican ground.
In Georgia, projected winner and incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff told supporters the American people had, in “sweeping and decisive victories,” rebuked what he called the “depravity, corruption and incompetence” of Trump. In Florida, Republican Senator Ashley Moody was ahead of Democrat Angie Nixon by only about three percentage points in a state Trump carried by 13 points in 2024, according to a compiled vote count. Democrats also held three Florida House districts that Republican lawmakers had redrawn earlier this year—all of which had backed Trump by at least nine points—while control of the House overall stayed unsettled.
Voters frame the midterms as a check on Trump
Midterm elections are often read as a referendum on the sitting president. Trump asked supporters to “pretend I’m on the ballot” and held dozens of rallies in the closing weeks. Exit polls by SSRS for a US media consortium found that half of voters nationwide saw the 2026 midterms as a chance to rebuke the president, three-quarters said they were “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the country’s direction, and 70% wanted Congress to place stronger checks on the president.
Trump’s approval was near career lows amid frustration over war with Iran, higher fuel prices and affordability. Opinion polls cited affordability as voters’ top concern; many disapproved of his handling of it. Tariffs on imports—many later struck down by courts—and his decision to attack Iran in February were linked to higher consumer prices. Republicans, led by Trump, cast Democratic candidates as radical; Democrats rejected those labels.
An analysis of leading election forecasters counted 47 competitive US House races. If other contests followed predictions, Democrats would need to win only 13 of those to secure a House majority. The Justice Department said it had sent 1,000 election monitors and observers to all 50 states—the largest Election Day monitoring effort in its history—drawing Democratic criticism as potential intimidation, while several state officials reported no problems.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 2024: Trump carried Florida by 13 percentage points in the presidential race; many jurisdictions that later received federal monitors had backed Kamala Harris over him.
- February: Trump’s decision to attack Iran was later cited among factors that raised prices for US consumers.
- Earlier this year: Republican lawmakers redrew three Florida House districts that Democrats nonetheless held on Tuesday.
- Recent weeks: The South Carolina Senate contest, long written off as uncompetitive, tightened as Andrews gained ground against Graham.
- Closing campaign weeks: Trump held dozens of rallies and urged supporters to treat the midterms as if he were on the ballot.
- Tuesday: Andrews won South Carolina; Cooper won North Carolina; Democrats held Georgia and New Hampshire while other Senate battlegrounds remained unresolved.
Aasan alfaaz mein
America ke midterm elections mein Democrat Annie Andrews ne South Carolina ki Senate seat jeet li hai. Yeh Trump ke pasandida candidate Darline Graham par badi haar hai. Democrats ko Senate control ke liye ab do aur seats chahiye. Pakistan ke liye seedha asar abhi clear nahi, lekin oil, dollar aur global mood badal sakte hain.
