Darline Graham

Republican Senator Darline Graham hit back at Democratic challenger Annie Andrews during a heated exchange over Graham’s last name in Sunday night’s South Carolina U.S. Senate debate, accusing her opponent of making a personal attack that invoked a painful part of her childhood.

The exchange began after Andrews rejected Graham’s efforts to portray her as a socialist, tying her to “Bernie Ocasio Mamdani,” saying her name was simply “Annie Andrews” before adding: “There shouldn't be any confusion about that because unlike my opponent, I haven't changed my name recently.”

Graham immediately pushed back, saying Graham had always been her legal name and explaining that she kept it after losing her parents as a child because it helped her feel connected to them. The late Senator Lindsey Graham’s sister said she used her married name, “Nordone,” on a social media account so other parents would recognize her.

“There she goes, insulting me. Personal insults about my name again,” Graham said. “My legal name is Graham and has always been Graham.”

She added: “So thank you for bringing up a horrible tragic memory for me.”

The clash came during a closely watched debate between Graham, Andrews and Libertarian candidate Kasie Whitener as the candidates compete for a Senate seat Republicans have dominated for decades. Sunday’s event was the only debate to which both Graham and Andrews had publicly committed ahead of the November 3 election.

Newsweek has reached out to the Graham and Andrews campaigns via email on Sunday night for comment.

Andrews’ remark about Graham’s name came as the Democrat sought to distance herself from the progressive wing of her party and reject her opponent’s characterization of her politics.

“I told you my opponent was going to call me a socialist. And there she's done it again,” Andrews said during the debate.

She went on to describe herself as a working mother and pediatrician who was raised in a Republican household, while highlighting positions that place her at odds with some Democrats. Andrews said she supports the Second Amendment, favors a secure border and believes undocumented immigrants who break the law should be deported.

The Democrat then sought to turn the argument back on Graham, accusing her of being too closely aligned with the White House.

“The real difference between me and Senator Graham is that I will stand up to my own party and I will always put South Carolina first,” Andrews said.

She accused Graham of viewing the job as being the “White House’s ambassador to South Carolina,” arguing that a senator’s responsibility was to represent the state rather than the administration.

The candidates also clashed over Graham’s qualifications for a full six-year term, with Andrews reviving a moment from an August Republican debate in which Graham struggled with a question about U.S. national security interests in Taiwan and the South China Sea before acknowledging that national security was “not my thing.”

“If your surgeon said that appendectomies aren’t really his thing, would you still hand him a scalpel? No,” Andrews said Sunday, calling Graham “unserious and unqualified.”

Graham defended her earlier remarks by arguing that she had been honest about what she did not know and accused Andrews of misleading voters and changing her positions. “Your thing apparently is not being honest with people of South Carolina,” Graham said. “You have flip-flopped on everything.”

The issue resurfaced during a discussion about artificial intelligence. After Graham praised Trump’s creation of an AI task force, Andrews said Graham had been a suitable interim choice to fill her late brother’s seat but had “shown time and time again that she is not up for the job” for a full term.

“I’m just as qualified as you,” Graham responded, noting that Andrews has also never held elected office.

Andrews also labeled Graham as "Data Center Darline."

According to Newsweek's AI Policy Scorecard, an interactive tool that evaluates members of Congress on AI policy based on their voting records and public positions, there is not yet enough evidence to give Graham an overall rating. The scorecard evaluates lawmakers across five areas, including regulation, data centers and energy, jobs and the economy, safety and privacy, and national security, on a scale ranging from “AI Skeptic” to “AI Booster.”

Graham’s scorecard does, however, rate her as an "AI Booster” on data centers and energy and on national security, citing her support for accelerating data-center development and banning Chinese AI data centers.

Graham was appointed by Republican Governor Henry McMaster following the death of her brother, longtime Senator Graham, in July. She subsequently won the Republican nomination after defeating Representative Ralph Norman in an August runoff with the backing of President Donald Trump.

The contest has become significantly more competitive than Republicans initially expected.

Sabato’s Crystal Ball recently shifted the race from Safe Republican to Likely Republican, while recent polling has shown a much closer contest than South Carolina’s recent voting history might suggest. Trump carried the state by 18 percentage points in 2024.

A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted October 5-8 showed Graham leading Andrews by 4 points, 49 percent to 45 percent, among 837 likely voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. An earlier Rasmussen poll had put Graham 5 points ahead.

Other September polling suggested an even narrower contest. The tightening race has attracted attention because South Carolina has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since Fritz Hollings, who left office in 2005.

Justin Vaughn, a political science professor at Coastal Carolina University, told Newsweek via email Sunday night that Andrews needs to persuade voters who typically back Republicans by giving them an affirmative reason to support her, rather than simply presenting herself as an alternative to Graham.

“Andrews needs to win over voters who typically vote Republican,” Vaughn said. “That requires giving them a reason to vote for her that aligns with their preferences, not just being a change of pace or the least bad option. That’s a tall order in this current polarized moment.”

Democrats have been overestimated by South Carolina polling before. In 2020, surveys suggested Graham faced a highly competitive challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison, but the Republican ultimately won by more than 10 percentage points.

National Republicans are taking steps to shore up Graham in the final weeks of the campaign.

The Senate Leadership Fund, the leading Republican super PAC involved in Senate races, plans to spend $5 million in South Carolina supporting Graham. A person familiar with the plans described the investment to the Associated Press as an “insurance policy” and said Republicans remained confident they would retain the seat.

Trump, who helped Graham during the Republican primary, is also tentatively expected to campaign in South Carolina ahead of Election Day.

Andrews, meanwhile, has sought to present herself as a more moderate Democrat. In addition to the positions she highlighted during Sunday’s debate, she recently said she does not support transgender women competing in women’s sports or gender-transition surgery for minors.

With Graham, Andrews and Whitener competing for the seat, South Carolina is poised to elect its first woman to the U.S. Senate. Early voting begins October 19, with Election Day on November 3.

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.