Incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham and pediatrician Dr. Annie Andrews both emerged from crowded primaries in South Carolina, but the narratives around their victories diverge sharply across the political spectrum.

Liberal coverage frames Andrews as a long-shot reformer challenging an entrenched incumbent in a deep-red state. CBS News notes that “an upset isn’t expected” given that Graham has held the seat since 2003 and that no Democrat has won statewide office in South Carolina since 2000.¹ Andrews embraces the underdog role, calling herself “a fighter” and branding Graham a “career, corrupt, cowardly politician” who has “abandoned South Carolinians,” arguing that voters are “ready for something different.”¹

Conservative outlets instead center the story on Graham’s durability and his tight bond with Donald Trump. The Washington Examiner emphasizes his status as Senate Budget Committee chair and “strong ally of President Donald Trump,” highlighting Graham’s public gratitude that “President Trump’s endorsement means the world to me.”² Fox News describes him as “fresh off successfully advancing the GOP’s $70 billion immigration enforcement package” and “one of President Donald Trump’s most ardent allies in the Senate.”⁴

Yet the right is not unified in its praise. Conservative reporting details how Graham “squeaked out a win” in a primary that exposed rifts between the GOP establishment and the party’s anti-interventionist wing, with businessman Mark Lynch attacking Graham as a “warhawk neocon” and saying “endless war and endless spending is Lindsey’s legacy.”³⁴

The portrayal of Andrews also splits. Liberal coverage stresses her challenge to Graham’s record and her claim he’s failed the state.¹ Conservative coverage, by contrast, defines her by a pledge to “lead the charge to impeach and remove RFK Jr.” as Health and Human Services secretary, casting her as an aggressive partisan actor in national vaccine and public health debates.³

Across outlets, the general election is thus framed less as a standard red-vs-blue contest and more as a referendum on Graham’s longevity, Trump-aligned yet contested brand of Republicanism, and Andrews’ effort to turn underdog frustration into a viable statewide coalition.