Columbia, SC (AP) – Dr. Annie Andrews, the Democrat in South Carolina, who unsuccessfully challenged Nancy Mace in 2022Sen. Lindsey GrahamIn 2026, he partly questioned the four-time office holder because of what she described as his waffle positions in the course of his political career.
“During this time he changed his position to almost all expenses, and in my opinion that is not for anything or believes in something else than what it takes to be re -elected,” said Andrews, a pediatrician in Charleston, the Associated Press in front of a campaign rollout on Thursday.
Andrews joins at least another democrat in a main field.
In her start video, Andrews says that it is embarrassing to see how politicians like Graham – at the moment one ofPresident Donald TrumpTop -Senat allies -have swung themselves from the criticism of Trump to win his favor. The video contains archive videos by Graham Bemoaning critics, who referred to Trump as “Kook”, and then used the same term a year earlier to describe his former GOP -Primary enemy at the 2016 presidential competition.
Andrews also criticizes Graham for the vote to confirm Trump’s cabinet selection and for his relationshipElon Muschusdescribes “a not selected billionaire … a chainsaw for social security, medicar and veteran health care”. She calls Defense Minister Pete Hegseth “a man who cannot even organize a text thread”, a reference to the latest signal chat scandal where war plans were discussed.
No democrat has won a seat of the US Senate in South Carolina for decades, and the Republicans in recent history generally take nationwide seats with double-digit margins. When he last ran in 2020, Graham defeated his democratic opponent Jaime Harrison von, fromA 10 percent point margin.
This competition was most expensive in South Carolina. Publish both candidatesRecordThat exceeded a total of 200 million US dollars and continued to growIn the final days of the race. Harrison, who led the chair of the Democratic National Committee, was the first US Senate candidate to accumulate a war treasure of more than 100 million US dollars in the course of the race.
Andrews was the democratic candidate whounsuccessful wantedMace can be discontinued in 2022 and losing against the Republican against 14 percentage points. The 1st district of South Carolina, who extends the south coast of the state, is the only one who has been freaking from red to blue for decades when Joe Cunningham won it for a single office in the 2018 elections for Democrats. Mace won it in 2020 and was re -elected twice, although it is in 2026A race for the governor.
In the years since her house run, Andrews resigned from her practice at the Medical University of South Carolina and founded a political organization that focused on questions related to children, including climate change, weapons and poverty from childhood. According to the federal government, an affiliated political campaign committee, its future PAC, gave 7,000 US dollars for a handful of candidates in the 2024 cycle and had around 5,000 US dollars at the end of 2024.
When Andrews was asked about the lack of nationwide record of the Democrats in the state, she said that Harrison’s efforts were “through necessary precautions” through necessary precautions during pandemic. Now, she said, the voters feel tense under the effects of the “chaotic” policy of the Trump government.
“Lindsey Graham had 22 years to do things for people here in South Carolina better, and I think they would be difficult to find many voters who could articulate how Lindsey made their lives better,” said Andrews.
Graham, who is looking for his fifth Senate period,Started his re -election campaignIn February, the announcement announced that governor Henry McMaster and Senator Tim Scott would lead his efforts. Scott, the state’s junior senator, is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of the chamber.
At least one republican has announced a main challenge for Graham.
This story was originally on Fortune.com