Candidate says mission unchanged after switch from Lindsey to Darline Graham
Dr. Annie Andrews described the moment she learned of Lindsey Graham’s death on July 11 as “shocking and unbelievable,” calling it “a profound moment for the whole state of South Carolina.” For more than a year before that weekend, the 45-year-old Democrat had been building a grassroots campaign designed to unseat the four-term Republican incumbent.
Now her general-election opponent is Darline Graham, Lindsey’s sister, whom Gov. Henry McMaster appointed to serve out the remainder of the term. Andrews said the change in opponent does not alter the core of her campaign.
“The problems that South Carolinians are facing did not change over that weekend,” Andrews told The Guardian. “My opponent will change but my mission remains the same and that’s what I’m staying focused on.”
Andrews spent 15 years as a pediatrician at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston before leaving her practice to found a political organization focused on the climate crisis, gun violence and childhood poverty. Her initial foray into politics — a 2022 congressional run against Republican Rep. Nancy Mace — ended in a 14-point defeat.
Andrews said the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump was the catalyst that pulled her back onto the ballot. She called Kennedy’s appointment “the worst-case scenario for America’s public health system” given his decades of amplifying baseless anti-vaccine views.
“Twenty years ago, when I started asking that question, the answer was almost universally yes,” Andrews said, referring to whether patients’ immunizations were up to date. “Now when I ask that question, I brace myself for the response because bad actors like RFK Jr, grifters and conspiracy theorists have been peddling in these anti-vaccine conspiracy theories for decades.”
Measles cases in the U.S. have hit a 35-year high, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with more than 90% of reported infections occurring among the unvaccinated or those whose vaccination status is unknown.
Andrews said the Covid-19 pandemic acted as “kerosene on the fire,” catalyzing an anti-science movement she sees as entrenched within the Republican Party. She views impending Medicaid budget cuts signed into law by Trump as a devastating threat to rural South Carolinians and advocates for defending Medicare, lowering prescription drug costs through federal negotiating power, and gradually introducing a public option to force private insurers to offer more competitive plans.
On gun violence, Andrews speaks with the authority of a physician who has “cared for children with bullet holes in them” and “stood at the bedside of a child who has been shot and held the parent’s hand, understanding that these are preventable injuries, these are policy choices that have been made by our lawmakers.” She said she would not “stand on the sidelines as gun violence continues to be the leading cause of death for kids in South Carolina and kids all across this country,” noting that polls show over 90% of Americans support universal background checks.
Andrews described broader economic conditions as part of her motivation. “Gas prices are high. Grocery prices are high. There’s an affordability crisis in housing and in childcare,” she said. “We don’t have jobs to meet the needs of folks who are graduating from technical colleges or from four-year universities.”
Her proposed remedies include ending partisan gerrymandering, implementing term limits, banning members of Congress from trading stocks or becoming lobbyists, and overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling to restrict dark money in politics. She described her approach as “powered by people, not Pacs.”
Andrews has spent a year building a statewide campaign apparatus, recruiting more than 2,000 volunteers. This week she gained the endorsement of Her Bold Move, a national support network for women running for political office.
Despite her efforts, the structural math remains difficult. South Carolina is a Republican stronghold with state elections historically decided by double-digit margins. In 2020, Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison shattered national fundraising records, amassing a war chest of more than $100 million, yet still lost to Lindsey Graham by 10 percentage points.
“I’m used to fighting fights that are uphill battles,” Andrews said. “That does not make the fight any less important and what I’ve seen over the past year is a growing sentiment that everyone on both sides of the aisle recognizes that Washington DC is broken.”