Posted on 10/06/2026 12:09:33 PM PDT by Miami Rebel
The top Republican super PAC involved in Senate races is planning to spend $5 million in South Carolina, a source familiar with the spending confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday. The injection of funds from the Senate Leadership Fund, a group aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is the latest sign that the race between GOP Sen. Darline Graham and Democratic pediatrician Annie Andrews is competitive. The outlay was first reported by Axios.
It comes as the Senate map is shifting further in Democrats’ favor, putting Republican-leaning states increasingly in play with less than a month remaining until Election Day. Trump carried South Carolina by 18 points in 2024. The last Democrat elected to represent South Carolina in the Senate was Fritz Hollings, who served from 1966 until 2005. Asked about SLF’s decision, Graham campaign spokesperson T.W. Arrighi said in a statement, “After over a month of non-stop misleading ads from Annie Andrews, funded by millions of out-of-state dollars, South Carolinians are beginning to learn the truth.”
The Andrews campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham to the seat soon after her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, died suddenly in July. Within days, Darline Graham announced she would run for a full six-year Senate term with the backing of President Donald Trump. Graham became the GOP Senate nominee after she defeated Rep. Ralph Norman in a primary runoff in August. The president has campaigned for Graham and on Monday used an anti-transgender slur to attack Andrews in a Truth Social post, referring to her three times as “trannie.” Andrews is not transgender.
An outside GOP group, Security Is Strength, also launched an attack ad against Andrews on Monday focused on transgender issues. But it’s Andrews who has been dominating the airwaves so far this fall. Since the beginning of September, Andrews’ campaign has spent $6.1 million on ads, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
That’s nearly 10 times more than the $687,000 in ads from outside Republican groups. Graham’s own campaign has not spent any significant funds on ads since the August primary runoff. The new spending underscores how races that were previously considered competitive — like the Senate matchup in North Carolina between Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley and the Georgia race between Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and Republican Rep. Mike Collins — are now viewed as leaning toward Democrats. The Senate race in solid red Kansas between GOP Sen. Roger Marshall and Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton also has tightened. In response to that changing dynamic, the Senate Leadership Fund canceled its ad spending in North Carolina’s Senate race last week and launched a new ad campaign in Kansas.
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Months late.
I suspect Cornyn and others are involved in this delayed and paltry pledge.
Its what happens when you choose a terrible candidate. Graham was an awful choice by Trump.
Sigh.
Cycles where we don’t spend.
“Where are the GOP PACs?!?! Where is this money?!?! Why don’t we have ads?!?!!!!”
The story: “GOP running low on money in crucial races”
Cycles where the GOP spends heavily:
“This isn’t good. The GOP is getting desperate!!!”
The story: You know the story because you are reading it.
Every cycle, damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Every cycle, “Dems surging!!!!”
The reaction? The usual pearl clutching and buying the narrative media’s poop, lock, stock, and barrel.
Might the narrative media’s be correct? Sure. Have they done anything in the last twenty years to garner instant credibility? Hell no.
And another thought, when the left is scared of something the GOP is doing or doesn’t want them to do it, this kind of story always appears.
Does anyone here honestly think the Dems are happy the GOP is spending money everywhere and has a ton of it to spend?
They are NOT spending money everywhere. Look north to the Whatley campaign.
Needing to fund campaigns in deep red states like South Carolina and Kansas isn’t a healthy sign.
South Carolina? They vote Republican. Hello!!! They’ll vote Lindsay Graham even after he’s dead
Where are these numbskulls with helping Paxton in Texas who’s running around whining that Trump won’t help him?
His picks for the Senate have been very dubious especially this cycle...North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas (especially here as NC was difficult no matter who it was). South Carolina is a pure joke. I hope she wins but this particular pick is bad.
Not that the Democrats have done much better but their weak candidates were picked by their voters (Michigan, Maine, Florida, etc)
The GOP PACs have money, lots of it.
In races that were supposed to be close, Republican candidates (Collins and Whatley) are being abandoned.
That South Carolina is competitive is the story. Scott beat Matthews by 26% in 2022.
The other thing is that Annie Andrews has ads saying how she’ll “work with Republicans” and comes off as a moderate.
You and I both know that once (if) she gets to DC, she’ll be a lapdog to her Democrat masters.
Republicans have plenty of money and they’re spending it everywhere. Why not SC? NBC is helping the DNC to raise cash.
A. Yes, Republicans have lots of money.
B. They’re NOT spending it everywhere. NC and Georgia have been written off.
C. South Carolina historically has been a cakewalk that needs no major funding. You ask, “Why not SC?,” but the normal question (in every other SC race in recent decades) would be “Why bother spending money on a sure thing?”
They are NOT spending money everywhere. Look north to the Whatley campaign.
No, the Senate Campaign Committee pulled from NC. The PACS are spending there.
Senate Leadership Fund IS a PAC, one of the biggest. If they don’t think Whatley has a chance, no one else is going to step in.
I know not it is a PAC. The same PAC Mitch used to control. I don’t think Whatley has a chance either. But it isn’t the only show in town.
I know not it is a PAC. The same PAC Mitch used to control. I don’t think Whatley has a chance either. But it isn’t the only show in town.
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