Sen. Darline Graham's, R-South Carolina, campaign is launching a website attacking Democrat Annie Andrews' stances on transgender athletes, gender affirming care and gun control.
Graham's campaign launched a website titled "Dr. Annie's Waiting Room" on Sept. 15, where site visitors can navigate through a virtual waiting room and click on different digitalized patients. Each digital patient links to information claiming that Andrews supports assault rifle bans, gender affirming care and hormone treatment for minors, and transgender athletes playing in women's sports.
Graham and Andrews are competing for one of South Carolina's seats in the U.S. Senate. Graham currently holds that seat, and she was appointed to office by Gov. Henry McMaster in mid-July after the death of her brother, Lindsey Graham.
Both candidate's campaign efforts escalated rapidly after a special Republican primary runoff on Aug. 25, when Graham beat U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-District 5, with about 52% of the vote. The election solidified that Andrews and Graham would be the Democratic and Republican candidates, who will appear on the November ballots.
Andrews recently launched a campaign website under the URL, debatemedarline.com, urging Graham to participate in a televised debate. She also launched a statewide affordability tour, titled "Gas, Grits, and Groceries."
More: Annie Andrews launches website daring Graham to SC Senate debate
Graham has spent the past several weeks connecting with local GOP branches and attending the Republican National Committee's inaugural midterm convention. The Upstate Republican Women's Club will host Graham during a meet and greet and luncheon set for Sep. 21.
The senator warned against Andrews' campaign in her Aug. 25 victory speech, and her new campaign website calls the Charleston pediatrician "the most liberal and radical person" every nominated for the U.S. Senate in South Carolina.
The campaign website claims that Andrews is pushing an extreme agenda that include supporting gender affirming hormone treatments for minors and the belief that transgender athletes should be able to participate in women's sports.
Mark Knoop, Graham's campaign manager, said in a statement that Andrews is "trying hard, and failing" to present herself as a moderate candidate. Knoop said Graham's campaign is focused on making sure South Carolinians know where Andrews stands on issues that matter to them.
"This website puts Annie Andrews' record in black and white," Knoop stated. "There is no room for running, hiding or spinning voters on the truth anymore."
Andrews has countered claims that she has a radical platform. In a previous interview with The Greenville News, Andrews said she does not believe efforts to make groceries, utilities and healthcare more affordable for South Carolinians is a radical stance.
A spokesperson for Andrews' campaign said the Democratic candidate has also been clear that she does not support biological men in women's sports or performing gender surgeries on minors.
"Unlike Annie, who has been clear about where she stands, Darline has spent this campaign hiding from the public — and it's easy to see why," said Liza Jones, press secretary for the Andrews campaign in a statement. "Darline is out of step with South Carolina — which make sense, given that she was handpicked by insiders in DC."
InsiderAdvantage, a national public opinion polling site, conducted a poll of 1,200 likely voters from Sept. 8-9, asking poll respondents who they would vote for if the U.S. Senate race were held that day. About 45% responded that they would vote for Graham, while about 43% of respondents said they would vote for Andrews.
Nearly 12% of respondents said they would either support a different candidate or were undecided. The poll had a margin of error of 2.83%.
The poll also broke down results by party. About 94% of Democrats said they would support Andrews, compared to 84% of Republicans who said they would support Graham. South Carolina, however, has a larger Republican voter base than its Democratic voter base.
About 367,400 people voted in this year's June 9 Democratic Senate primary, compared to 465,000 people who voted in the June 9 Republican Senate primary.
Voters will have the chance to hear both candidates explain their policy stances in a debate hosted by SCETV on Oct. 11. A time for the debate has not yet been released. There are less than two months before the general election on Nov. 3, and voters can register up until Oct. 2 if they plan to vote in person.
The deadline to register to vote online is Oct. 4, and the deadline to register for a mail-in ballot is Oct. 5.
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Graham launches site targeting Andrews on social, gun issues