Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) has agreed to debate Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews next month as the two face off for the seat once held by Graham Nordone’s late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Graham Nordone announced Friday that she would participate in an Oct. 11 debate with Andrews, accepting an invitation from the South Carolina Educational Television Network.
“I’m in. On October 11, I will take the debate stage and expose Annie Andrews’ radical positions she’s spent the last year hiding from South Carolina families,” Graham Nordone wrote in a social media post.
“This is your seat, South Carolina, and it will be my honor to show you why I am ready to continue serving you and representing our conservative values in Washington,” the senator concluded.
Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician and the Democratic nominee, had repeatedly called on Graham Nordone to debate. She said Graham Nordone’s performance in the Republican primary race had raised questions about her preparedness for the Senate.
“Darline’s primary debate performance left voters with serious questions about whether she is prepared for this job,” Andrews said in a statement posted to social media. “Voters deserve to see us side by side and judge for themselves.”
During the August Republican primary debate against Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Graham Nordone stumbled when asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea were national security issues for the United States.
“I’m just going to be honest here … I’m not that informed on national security,” she said, before adding, “But I do support the military.”
The October debate will be Graham Nordone’s first debate with Andrews. She had faced Norman in the Republican runoff in August, which she won with the backing of President Donald Trump.
Graham Nordone was thrust into politics unexpectedly after Lindsey Graham died on July 11. Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) appointed her to fill the remainder of her brother’s Senate term just days later. She subsequently entered the special Republican primary election and, with Trump’s endorsement, defeated Norman in an Aug. 25 runoff.
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The answer drew attention in part because her late brother was a prominent Senate voice on foreign policy and national security.
Andrews, meanwhile, faces a difficult path in a state that has consistently elected Republicans in statewide federal races. The Cook Political Report currently rates the South Carolina Senate race as Solid Republican.