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| Elections in South Carolina |
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The 2026 United States Senate election in South Carolina will be held on November 3, 2026, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of South Carolina. Incumbent four-term Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who was re-elected in 2020, is running for a fifth term in office. [1]
South Carolina is generally considered to be a Republican stronghold, having not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1998. Republican nominee Donald Trump won South Carolina in 2020 by 12 percentage points, and in 2024 grew his margin to 18 percentage points. Republicans control every statewide office (except the state's comptroller office), supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature, both U.S. Senate seats, and all but one seat in South Carolina's U.S. House congressional delegation. [2] [3]
Senator Lindsey Graham was first elected in 2002, defeating Democrat Alex Sanders by about 10 percentage points. He was re-elected in 2008, 2014, and most recently in 2020 defeating Jamie Harrison by 10 percentage points in what was expected to be a dead heat. [4] In January 2025, he declared that he was running for reelection. [5]
U.S. executive branch officials
U.S. senators
Statewide officials
| Campaign finance reports as of June 30, 2025 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand |
| Lindsey Graham (R) | $17,380,215 | $14,254,882 | $15,616,791 |
| Ethan Holliman (R) | $20,270 | $20,270 | $0 |
| Mark Lynch (R) | $5,280,952 | $195,110 | $5,085,841 |
| Source: Federal Election Commission [17] | |||
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size [a] | Margin of error | Lindsey Graham | Mark Lynch | Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantus Insights (R) [18] [19] [A] | June 10–13, 2025 | 600 (RV) | ± 3.8% | 48% | 23% | – | 29% |
| Pulse Opinion Research (R) [20] [B] | May 15–21, 2025 | 1,062 (LV) | – | 43% | 29% | 5% | 23% |
| Campaign finance reports as of June 30, 2025 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand |
| Annie Andrews (D) | $1,249,437 | $577,561 | $671,876 |
| Catherine Fleming Bruce (D) | $0 | $0 | $5,030 |
| Kyle Freeman (D) | $34,491 | $33,837 | $654 |
| Source: Federal Election Commission [17] | |||
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Inside Elections [33] | Solid R | August 12, 2025 |
| The Cook Political Report [34] | Solid R | August 18, 2025 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball [35] | Safe R | August 12, 2025 |
| Race To The WH [36] | Likely R | September 4, 2025 |
Partisan clients
Ethan Holliman, of Conway, also has filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to run as a Republican for the seat and has loaned his campaign $20,000.