By admin 
Less than a week until the election and the U.S. Senate race remains closer than forecasters would expect in a state President Donald Trump won by double digits three times.
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According to the latest poll conducted between Oct. 16 and Oct. 18, U.S. Sen. Darline Graham has a three point lead over Democratic nominee Dr. Annie Andrews. The margin of error in the poll was 2.9 percentage points.
A South Carolina Policy Council poll has Graham up by 1 point 47% to 46% with 4% undecided and within the 3% margin of error.
That poll of 1,200 registered voters, conducted between Oct. 16 and Oct. 25, found Andrews has a slight lead among those who voted early, while Graham has a slightly larger lead among those who plan to vote on Election Day.
The tight margin has Republicans worried. President Donald Trump, who held a rally in Pendleton on Oct. 21, is returning to South Carolina five days before the election in an effort to help boost Graham across the finish line.
The rally is scheduled for Rock Hill on Thursday, and is in U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman’s hometown in a county he carried by more than 27 percentage points in the Aug. 25 runoff against Graham.
Despite Graham being the GOP nominee, a movement that is vocal on social media is calling on conservatives to write-in Norman in the U.S. Senate race. If enough people follow through with the idea, or vote for a third party candidate, the race could swing to Andrews.
Norman’s son, Warren Norman, recently wrote an op-ed saying he would support Andrews in the election.
Other high-profile Republicans want Ralph Norman to be more vocal of his support for Graham, even though he said he would not campaign with her.
One of those is U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, who also ran in the special GOP Senate primary but finished third in the primary behind Graham and Norman.
“He didn’t win, I didn’t win either, but what you get with Annie Andrews is a far different result, a far more dangerous result of the future of this country,” Fry told reporters in Myrtle Beach ahead of his third annual Freedom Fry event. “So I hope that he does in the final eight days step into the [arena] to help with the Republican nominee.”
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Late high-profile endorsements
Andrews rolled out two more endorsements in the last week of the race of two governors who served only one term.
Former Gov. David Beasley, a Republican, and former Gov. Jim Hodges, a Democrat, filmed a video for the Andrews campaign backing her bid to oust Graham from office.
“This country is too divided, and the political rhetoric has gotten way, way out of hand, that’s why we’re coming together to support Annie Andrews,” Beasley said in the video.
The Graham camp dismissed the endorsement as being valuable.
Kevin Bishop, a senior advisor for communications for the Graham campaign, pointed out several times on X that Beasley and Hodges each lost reelection bids.
“Other note, Beasley was elected 7 times as a Democrat. Switched parties; won as (a) Republican. Left GOP again recently — ‘walked away’ as he said,” Bishop posted.
Money race
Going into the final weeks of the campaign, Andrews had $1.7 million cash on hand through Oct. 14, according to Federal Election Commission reports.
Graham had $634,000 cash on hand as of Oct. 14, FEC reports say.
Republican donors have been asked to contribute a lot this year. The battle for the Republican nomination for governor went into a runoff. After the death of Lindsey Graham, GOP donors were hit up again for a special primary that went to a runoff. That’s four statewide elections in one year, with the general election still remaining.
So outside groups have had to help.
Some of the biggest spenders include, the GOP aligned Senate Leadership Fund, which has invested $7.5 million in the state, conservative group Palmetto Action has spent $7.5 million, and the conservative aligned Security is Strength has spent $14.3 million, according to data compiled by Open Secrets. The liberal group Fresh Start South Carolina PAC has spent $3 million in the state.
According to Open Secrets, $10.6 million has been spent to support Darline Graham and $6.6 million has been spent by outside groups opposing her election.
About $2.2 million has been spent supporting Andrews, and $11.8 million has been spent opposing her.
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Sun News Reporter Maria Elena Scott contributed from Myrtle Beach.