Darline Graham

COLUMBIA — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Annie Andrews and incumbent Republican Sen. Darline Graham are set to face one another face-to-face in a rare Sunday night debate in Columbia Oct. 11.

The highly anticipated matchup, which will also feature Libertarian candidate Kasie Whitener, will broadcast statewide and online — at scetv.org/elections — beginning at 7 p.m. on South Carolina Educational Television, and last for one hour.

The candidates are then expected to address the media afterward in the SCETV building.

Their first debate of the general election, it will also likely be the only opportunity for voters to see the candidates side-by-side in a campaign that has so far been waged largely in cramped event spaces and over the airwaves.

It will also be a critical screen test for the two candidates whose jabs against one another have come primarily in scripted settings. While Graham’s debate night stumbles this summer made national headlines during the Republican primary, Andrews has remained untested on a debate stage this cycle, declining to participate in lightly organized events involving her lesser-funded Democratic opponents earlier this cycle.

Here’s what we’re watching for.

Will Graham define Andrews for her?

Even as the likely favorite in a place no Democrat had won a statewide election in decades, Graham faces headwinds running as a Republican.

The party’s brand nationally has been weighed down by a poor economy and the ongoing war in Iran. She also faces a voter enthusiasm problem, with scars still healing from a bitterly contested runoff election against congressman Ralph Norman for the nomination that has left her party fractured heading into November’s election.

Andrews, who’d previously run for Congress in a progressive mold, has since moderated her platform to help capture the Republican votes Graham potentially leaves on the table, as well as some of the independent and undecided voters she will need to overcome the built-in disadvantage she faces.

Graham has been trying to stop that from happening, attempting to pivot voters’ focus away from issues where Republicans are considered weak to culture war issues where Andrews is seen as vulnerable.

In recent days, Andrews — who had long been an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ community — attempted to distance herself from those positions. She has been running advertisements ahead of the debate to contradict positions she’d previously held against legislation surrounding transgender athletes in women’s sports and around gender-affirming care for minors. Graham will be expected to hammer Andrews on those issues Sunday night.

“The more South Carolinians hear about her positions, the more they feel misled,” T.W. Arrighi, a Graham spokesman, said in a Friday press statement.

Graham as the “swamp”

Andrews has leaned into themes raised during the Republican primaries depicting Graham as the heir to a political dynasty begun by her brother — late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham — who would be easily manipulated by special interest groups and President Donald Trump’s White House, which was credited for pushing Graham to pursue the seat.

While Graham’s previous career was as a bureaucrat rather than a politician, Andrews’ campaign has attempted to attack her on her campaign’s fundraising support from the insurance industry and major tech companies. They played a critical role in boosting Graham’s advertising presence earlier this summer as her relatively young campaign struggled to raise money.

It will be a likely line of attack Sunday night. On Oct. 8, Andrews’ campaign also released an ad simply titled “Swamp,” where she sought to portray Graham as the chosen candidate of D.C. special interests conscripted solely to do their bidding.

“Trump was right,” Andrews said in the ad. “The biggest swamp is Washington D.C. And Darline Graham was handpicked by it.”

The economy, and data centers

Graham has avoided directly discussing economic issues on the campaign trail.

But she has criticized Andrews and national Democrats’ opposition to Republican-led policies favored by the Trump administration, including numerous tax cuts included in the Big Beautiful Bill — a sweeping piece of legislation passed last year that also includes cuts to supplemental nutrition assistance programs and Medicaid alongside significant increases in student loan payments.

“Her views are right with Democrats like Bernie Sanders and AOC,” Graham said during a September campaign event.

Andrews has sought to personalize economic issues, criticizing Republican-led cuts to healthcare by highlighting the early deaths of Graham’s parents, whom she said died from preventable causes that could have been thwarted by access to affordable healthcare.

“I believe that Darline's parents deserve better,” Andrews has said on the campaign trail. “I believe everyone in South Carolina deserves better.”

Data centers are expected to be another dividing line. While Andrews has supported a national moratorium, Graham had been a supporter of their development so long as they generate their own power and receive local approval.

An opening for Kasie Whitener?

Whitener, the Libertarian in the race, has so far struggled to attract media exposure, with her messaging largely relegated to regular livestreams on her social media pages and small campaign events. Entering the summer, she had just over $2,600 in cash in her campaign accounts, with fundraising totals smaller than some statehouse candidates.