South Carolina US Senate 2026
Election day is November 3, 2026. A statewide contest in South Carolina.
Who is favoured in South Carolina US Senate?
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What the South Carolina US Senate election decides
The Senate confirms federal judges and cabinet officers, ratifies treaties, and can stop legislation the House passes. With a six-year term and a hundred-member chamber, a single seat is a larger share of the institution than any House district, which is why Senate races draw national money into state contests.
Each state sends two senators regardless of population, so this seat carries the same weight as California's or Wyoming's. South Carolina voters fill it alongside all 7 of the state's House seats and the governorship, and a Senate term runs six years, spanning two future Congresses and, in this case, the next presidential election.
How South Carolina votes
South Carolina pairs a fast-growing coast with a conservative upstate and a substantial Black electorate that anchors the Democratic coalition. Republicans hold a firm statewide advantage in federal races. That backdrop is the ground any South Carolina campaign fights on, and it is what the Electorate HQ simulation reads first when it weighs a ticket's platform against this contest.
About this race
The 2026 United States Senate election in South Carolina was held on November 3, 2026, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent South Carolina. Democratic pediatrician Annie Andrews defeated Republican appointee Darline Graham in what was considered an upset.
Graham's brother, four-term incumbent Lindsey, won the Republican nomination in the June 9 primaries, but died on July 11, triggering an August 11 special primary. Appointed to her brother's seat and encouraged to run with the support of President Donald Trump, Graham advanced to an August 25 runoff against Representative Ralph Norman, defeating him with 52.5% of the vote. Andrews won the Democratic nomination with 61.5% of the vote over former Paine College administrator Brandon Brown.
Though the election was initially forecast as a safe hold for Republicans, a national environment heavily favoring Democrats, along with scrutiny of Graham's qualifications, led to a more competitive race, with polling in the weeks before the election showing it significantly tightening. Andrews ultimately won the election, becoming the first woman elected to the Senate from South Carolina and the first Democrat to win a Senate race in the state since 1998, as well as the first Democrat to win a statewide election since 2006.
Latest coverage of the South Carolina US Senate race
South Carolina's Senate race more competitive than years past. It's giving Dems hopeTrump campaigns in South Carolina to support Senate candidate GrahamAs Democrats’ Midterm Dreams Grow, South Carolina Becomes a Test of the PossibleAnnie Andrews defeats Darline Graham in South Carolina's US Senate race, first Democrat to win since 1998South Carolina 2026 U.S. Senate Race SummaryWATCH: Graham and Andrews clash in South Carolina Senate race debateHow did Republicans lose a Senate seat in fireball-red South Carolina?Annie Andrews wins South Carolina 2026 Senate election, flipping seat for DemocratsThe rest of the South Carolina ballot
Every South Carolina House district, the counties inside each one, and an address lookup that resolves your exact districts are on the South Carolina state page.
Other 2026 races in South Carolina
Analysis covering South Carolina
Alabama has the most evenly sized congressional map in the country
Every redistricting argument is about the extremes. Here is the opposite: the state whose seven districts land within a factor of three of each other.
Twenty-six states elect a senator and a governor on the same day in 2026
The overlap between the Senate class and the gubernatorial cohort is a coincidence of two unrelated calendars, and it decides where money goes.