2026 United States Senate election in South Carolina
Background
South Carolina is generally considered to be a Republican stronghold, having not elected a Democrat) to the U.S. Senate since (/wiki/1998UnitedStatesSenateelectioninSouthCarolina). Republican nominee Donald Trump won South Carolina in (/wiki/2020UnitedStatespresidentialelectioninSouthCarolina) by 12 percentage points, and in (/wiki/2024UnitedStatespresidentialelectioninSouthCarolina) 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.
2026 United States Senate election in South Carolina
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. Primary elections will be held on June 9, 2026, with a runoff election on June 23 if no candidate wins a majority in their respective primary. Incumbent four-term Republican) Senator Lindsey Graham, who was re-elected in (/wiki/2020UnitedStatesSenateelectioninSouthCarolina), is running for a fifth term in office.
Background
Senator Lindsey Graham was first elected in (/wiki/2002UnitedStatesSenateelectioninSouthCarolina), defeating Democrat Alex Sanders) by about 10 percentage points. He was re-elected in (/wiki/2008UnitedStatesSenateelectioninSouthCarolina), (/wiki/2014UnitedStatesSenateelectioninSouthCarolina), and most recently in (/wiki/2020UnitedStatesSenateelectioninSouthCarolina) defeating Jaime Harrison by 10 percentage points in what was expected to be a dead heat. In January 2025, he declared that he was running for reelection.
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