by MARK POWELL
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When the three leading candidates in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate race step before the television cameras for their only scheduled campaign debate on Sunday night (October 11, 2026), they’ll make history.
Interim U.S. senator Darline Graham Nordone, Democrat nominee Dr. Annie Andrews, and Libertarian candidate Dr. Kasie Whitener comprise the first all-women field of contenders for a statewide office.
The key word being, “statewide.”
In 2022, congresswoman Nancy Mace defeated Andrews (the current Senate candidate) in her bid for reelection to the Palmetto State’s first congressional district. And in the current cycle, Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt and Democrat Nancy Lacore are battling to succeed Mace.
But this is the first statewide race to feature an all-female cast – and its victor will become the first woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate from South Carolina, a state which has exclusively sent men to Washington D.C. dating back to 1789.
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Televised debates, such as Sunday evening’s 7:00 p.m. EDT encounter on SCETV, are double-edged swords for candidates. They can make or break campaigns depending on which contender rises to master the moment.
Substantive considerations notwithstanding, powerful deliveries can be tremendously beneficial. Take, for example, the bold declaration made by then-state representative Nikki Haley during a GOP primary debate in June of 2010:
“I’ve been absolutely faithful to my husband for thirteen years,” Haley said in response to allegations of multiple extramarital affairs. “This is just disgusting politics.”
Similarly, cringeworthy gaffes can (self-) inflict significant damage. Just two months ago, Nordone shocked viewers during a GOP debate by giving herself a hall pass on a question she didn’t want to answer.
“National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise,” she said in response to a question from moderator Greta Van Susteren.
Moments earlier, Nordone acknowledged, “I’m not that informed on national security.”
Despite her narrow victory in the August 25 Republican runoff, campaign staffers are still trying to explain her way out of that verbal quicksand pit – while the gaffe has repeatedly found its way onto the late night talk shows.
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Given recent polling, the stakes for tonight’s encounter couldn’t be higher. Depending on whose surveys you look at, Nordone’s lead is in the mid- to low-single digits – nowhere near the huge margins senator Tim Scott and her late brother Lindsey Graham have racked up on their Democrat opponents in recent elections..
“It’s too close for comfort,” one veteran South Carolina Republican strategist privately acknowledged.
Conversely, Andrews has the prevailing winds in her sails at the moment. In most midterm elections since World War II, the party occupying the White House has taken it on the chin – sometimes badly. National polling ahead of next month’s voting suggests the question isn’t “will the Democrats win?’” but rather “how big will the Democrat win be?”
At the same time. Andrews is carrying some uncomfortable baggage of her own. Having campaigned hard on her experience as a Lowcountry pediatrician, her favorableness had been ticking up as summer gave way to fall. But Nordone’s supporters have started playing rough, accusing her of adopting positions on various social issues that rub many South Carolinians the wrong way.
Andrews fired back a few days ago with a feisty rebuttal.
“I want you to hear me loud and clear,” she said. “I don’t support biological men playing women’s sports and I don’t support – and haven’t ever performed – gender surgery for minors. Darline Graham lying about me won’t do a thing to help you.”
Unfortunately for Andrews, previous social media posts have called into question the veracity of those denials.
How will she handle the inevitable callout over these discrepancies?
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As the two major party nominees battle it out, Dr. Kasie Whitener, labors on as a kind of John the Baptist in the political wilderness. The educator, writer, business owner, and radio host from Blythewood, S.C. is running hard on things like independent representation, a balanced-budget amendment, reducing the national debt, greater oversight of Congress, and reforming Social Security and Medicare.
That’s music to many traditional ears in South Carolina – and her recent interview on our outlet was very well-received.
The fact Whitener qualified to participate in a top-tier debate is proof of her legitimacy, but she remains hamstrung by the lack of major party support – namely its financial and grassroots advantages and accompanying base of straight-ticket voters.
When told Whitener has been the Libertarian nominee since April, one repeatedly hears the polite question, “yeah -and who are they?”
Still, they say showing up is half the battle, and Whitener will definitely show up Sunday night – hoping to translate her popular policy positions into votes.
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While these three candidates are taking the stage, there’s another important political dynamic to keep an eye on.
With each successive election cycle, hardline conservative Republicans have become increasingly disenchanted with their party’s ruling establishment. Their angst reached a fever pitch this summer when the state’s GOP oligarchs blatantly railroaded Nordone’s candidacy in the primary and runoff elections to fill the vacancy created by her brother’s passing.
Conservatives have responded with the “Write-In Ralph” movement, a bid to write in the name of retiring congressman Ralph Norman on the fall ballot as a way of sending the GOP establishment a message.
“Taken together, a trifecta of trouble is brewing for the sitting senator,” a national GOP strategist in Washington unaffiliated with any campaign told us privately. “Look, the phrase ‘ruby red South Carolina’ is becoming a political cliché. Even worse, it’s becoming less and less true with every cycle as older traditional conservatives die off, the steady wave of Northern transplants keeps rising, and an entire generation of young people raised in liberal-dominated public education reach adulthood and get to vote.”
“We’re now on the cusp of the solid conservatism of Carroll Campbell going the way of the dinosaurs,” the strategist added. “By the end of this decade, Campbell and his conservative views will seem as remote to these new South Carolina voters as Calvin Coolidge and William Howard Taft. We could very well witness the first waves of it wash ashore on November 3.”
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Despite the many headwinds facing her, political insiders agree Nordone remains favored to win the election and succeed her brother on a full-time basis in our nation’s capital.
“But it’s not a slam dunk,” one noted. “And it should be in a state like ours. That’s what has so many Republicans so worried right now.”
In other words, another big debate flub by Nordone could prove fatal.
There’s one other phenomenon unique to this encounter to keep in mind – the lack of a man on the debate stage.
“Men have to be very careful when debating women,” one GOP pollster told us confidentially. “They can’t risk looking like they’re bullying. That risk comes off the table when you’ve got all-female participants. Now it’s a matter of, ‘how far do they go attacking each other?’ I don’t mean to use sexist language here, but… they need to avoid it turning into a catfight. That could alienate big chunks of voters. So it’s a very narrow tightrope to walk.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
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