Two former South Carolina governors, one Republican, one Democrat, endorsed Annie Andrews over Sen. Darline Graham in a campaign video, citing political division while forecasts still favor the Republican.
Former Govs. David Beasley, a Republican, and Jim Hodges, a Democrat, appeared Monday in a video for Andrews’s Senate campaign, urging voters to back the Democrat against the appointed Republican senator who has leaned on President Trump’s endorsement.
The Hill reported the bipartisan pairing as a notable break in a state where Republicans hold the advantage and where Decision Desk HQ still gives Graham a clear edge.
The video is the core of the pitch. Hodges and Beasley cast the race as a rejection of endless fighting rather than a standard party line.
Hodges opened by admitting the two men have clashed for years.
"Now, over the years, the two of us haven’t always agreed on everything,"
Beasley followed with the shared claim that drives the endorsement.
"But one thing we do agree on right now is this country is too divided, and the political rhetoric has gotten way, way out of hand,"
Hodges then named the candidate.
"That is why we’re coming together today to support Annie Andrews,"
Beasley pressed the leadership line the campaign wants voters to hear.
"Annie understands that leadership isn’t about making people angrier. Well, it’s about making things better,"
He closed the unity theme with a direct appeal to the state.
"Well, we may have served as your governor from different political parties, but we agree South Carolina deserves better than more of the same political fight."
That is the full case the video makes. No new policy platform. No detailed record. A joint call for less anger and a different kind of fight.
Beasley’s appearance did not arrive out of nowhere. Last week he published an op-ed in the Post and Courier criticizing the Republican Party’s direction under President Trump.
In that piece he wrote that the party is “not the party that I knew, and it is not the party that I consider myself a member of.”
The endorsement video puts that dissatisfaction into a campaign frame. A former Republican governor is now telling South Carolinians to choose the Democrat over the sitting Republican senator.
Hodges holds his own history with Beasley. He defeated Beasley in the 1998 gubernatorial race and remains the last Democrat to serve as South Carolina’s governor. Their joint appearance revives an old rivalry in service of a new Democratic Senate bid.
Darline Graham fills the seat that belonged to her late brother, former Sen. Lindsey Graham. She has relied on President Trump’s endorsement as a central pillar of her campaign.
Handicappers have not handed the race to Andrews. Decision Desk HQ, The Hill’s partner, forecasts a 67 percent chance Graham wins and a 33 percent chance for Andrews. Last week the Cook Political Report moved the race away from a pure GOP lean, citing a new wave of funding that improves Andrews’s chances. Even with that shift, the underlying map still favors the Republican.
South Carolina has not made a habit of elevating Democrats statewide. Hodges’s own tenure as the last Democratic governor underscores how rare that path remains.
In a candidate debate, Graham faced questions about her ties to the president and a recent Russian oil deal. That arrangement, as described in the coverage, supplies the United States and the global marketplace with 300,000 tons of diesel immediately.
Pressed on the point, Graham deferred to the president’s judgment on tools and timing.
"It gives the president tools that he can use if he so chooses to end the war through economic sanctions. So that’s up to him as to whether or not he wants to use it or whether he wants to use something else."
Graham also tried to tie Andrews to the Democratic Socialists of America. Andrews answered by predicting the label and pivoting hard to prices and rural health care.
She told the audience her opponent would call her a socialist “because that’s what her script says,” and “also because she doesn’t want to talk to you about your high gas prices, grocery prices or your closing rural hospital.”
That exchange is the Democratic playbook in miniature: reject the socialist charge, then hammer cost of living and hospital closures. Graham’s side keeps the focus on ideology and on alignment with the president.
Cook’s shift last week rested on fresh money flowing to Andrews. Money can buy ads and staff. It does not automatically rewrite South Carolina’s recent voting pattern or erase a 67, 33 forecast.
Beasley and Hodges are offering voters a nostalgia play, two former governors who once fought each other now claiming the country is too angry. Andrews is offering kitchen-table complaints about gas, groceries, and rural hospitals. Graham is offering continuity with the president who endorsed her and with the seat her brother held.
The coverage also notes voter frustration over the war in Iran and rising living costs. Those pressures exist in the race. They have not, on the numbers published so far, put Andrews ahead.
A bipartisan video from two ex-governors is a tactical win for a Democrat in a hard state. It is not the same thing as a majority. South Carolina voters still get the final word, and the forecast still runs through Graham.
