The Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from South Carolina, Annie Andrews, has taken the seat left vacant by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the heavyweights of the Republican Party, after defeating his daughter Darlene Graham in one of the results, for now, more striking of the legislative elections held this Tuesday.
The projections from the main networks give Andrews the win, who takes away from Republicans their second seat of the night, after Roy Cooper’s victory in North Carolina.
The last time a Democratic senator prevailed in South Carolina was in 1998.
This Andrews result comes in a context in which the counting of the projections begins to tilt toward the Democratic side. In another traditional Republican stronghold like Texas, the first estimates point to a possible double win in the Senate, with James Talarico, and in the Governorship, with Gina Hinojosa.
Nonetheless, none of the major U.S. media outlets has yet declared the contests that respectively pit them against Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott as closed.
Meanwhile, Republicans have met the forecasts in the last few hours for Senate seats in the states of Wyoming (Harriet Hageman), Kentucky (Andy Barr), Oklahoma (Kevin Hern) and Tennessee (Bill Hagerty).
With these markers, Democrats currently have 46 seats in the Senate versus 38 for Republicans. They would still need five more to secure a majority in the Upper House that, combined with their practically confirmed victory in the House of Representatives, would allow them to take full control of the U.S. Congress.