Graham, Andrews face off as GOP jitters grow in South Carolina

In today’s issue:

▪ Debate night in South Carolina

▪ Russia deal faces backlash

▪ DOJ investigating news outlets

▪ Mike Johnson’s uncertain future

Close

Thank you for signing up!

The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Morning Report newsletter

Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) and her Democratic opponent Annie Andrews went head-to-head Sunday night for their first and likely only debate in a contest that favors the GOP but looks increasingly gettable for Democrats.

Democrats haven’t won statewide in South Carolina in 20 years, and Graham has led in polling, unlike GOP candidates in some typically red states in what may be a “blue wave” election.

But the dynamic has changed from how the race was expected to go since the sudden death of Graham’s brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), in July. Instead of facing a longtime incumbent who’s had years to build up his reputation and experience, Democrats now face his sister, who was appointed to the seat three months ago and has faced criticism — including from members of her own party — that she’s too inexperienced for the role.

“She has shown time and time again that she is not up for the job,” Andrews said Sunday night.

Graham defended herself as qualified for the position, pointing to the work she has already done as a senator.

“I’ve been in the Senate for three months now. I’ve already co-sponsored several bills that protect farmers, that protect the American taxpayer,” she said.

Graham also defended herself over a memorable gaffe that she made during a primary runoff debate in August against Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). Responding to a question about whether the U.S. would have the responsibility to defend Taiwan from a hypothetical Chinese invasion, Graham said she’s “not that informed” on national security.

“At least I’m honest. If I don’t know something, I am glad to say it, and I’ll say it again tonight. But … you are deceiving the people of South Carolina,” Graham shot back at Andrews.

She successfully avoided any similar gaffes during her faceoff with Andrews, though the Democratic nominee continued to press her over her limited experience, accusing her of trying to ride the coattails of her brother’s name.

Graham sought to tie Andrews to the most far-left factions of her party.

“Annie Andrews will not stand up to the Socialist Democratic Party. She’s only going to join them,” she said, criticizing the response from some progressives to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

The event seems likely to be the only time that Graham and Andrews will meet on the debate stage. Andrews pressed Graham a few times during the debate to commit to additional meetings, but Graham rebuffed her, saying she wants to focus on interacting with voters.

Although the race still favors the GOP, there’s some signs it may be tighter than initially expected.

A few surveys from Republican-leaning pollsters have shown Graham only a few points ahead, putting Andrews within the margin of error.

The election handicapper Cook Political Report shifted its rating of the race from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican” late last month.

Decision Desk HQ rates the race as “lean Republican,” giving Graham a 70 percent chance of winning. That’s down from close to 80 percent about a month ago.

Senate Leadership Fund, the main Senate Republican super PAC, is directing $5 million into the contest as an “insurance policy,” another sign of the GOP feeling some jitters. That money may be helpful, as Andrews has been outraising and outspending Graham and constantly appearing in ads.

National Democrats have yet to invest in the race, instead ramping up spending in states like Kansas and Iowa.

The Hill’s Sudiksha Kochi has a helpful rundown of what else to expect this week in key House and Senate races, as we’re three weeks out from Election Day. Sign up for The Hill Insider here to get “This week on the Hill” every Monday.

On top of more high-profile debates, President Trump is visiting Ohio today and Alaska on Tuesday to boost two potentially vulnerable GOP incumbents, Sens. Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan, respectively.

▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from testy South Carolina debate.

▪ The Hill: The Senate races most likely to flip.

3 Things to Know:

A federal judge told the Trump administration that its taxpayer-funded ads are likely unlawful and must stop immediately. The Department of Homeland Security had said the ad campaign was set to conclude on Sunday. The president has said he would fund the ads through political contributions going forward.

The president and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are considering firing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle following reports that she sought money from a GOP donor to pay off her debts during her confirmation process, a senior U.S. official told The Associated Press. The source said a decision will likely be made this week.

A terminal at the international airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was struck again by a projectile a day after a strike that killed 12 people and injured 300 others. The Iran-backed Houthis have claimed responsibility for both attacks. The airport has been hit four times over the course of five days.

Leading the Day

A rescue worker puts out a fire at residential houses destroyed in a Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

SHAKY GROUND: There’s already growing skepticism about the president’s announcement Sunday that Russia and Ukraine agreed to an “energy ceasefire” in their war, as Moscow soon after struck a Ukrainian power plant.

In a Truth Social post early Sunday, Trump said both parties had agreed to the deal and that it would take effect immediately.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on the social platform X that his country supports the ceasefire but was waiting for more details from the U.S. as Russia must agree to it as well. A source close to Zelensky told CNN that Trump’s announcement took him by surprise.

But soon after, Zelensky said a power plant in Kharkiv was attacked and Ukrainian skies had been “infested” with Russia attacks all day.

“Ukraine wants peace. The question is whether Russia does,” Zelensky said.

Trump has pointed to the war between Russia and Ukraine as the central cause of rising energy costs in the U.S., downplaying the role of the Iran war.

He announced a deal Friday for the U.S. to purchase diesel fuel from Russia to address the high energy costs, spurromg bipartisan backlash from lawmakers who say the deal is providing a financial lifeline to Russia.

A group on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee argue it violates a ban on Russian energy imports that Congress passed in 2022 to prevent U.S. dollars from supporting Russia’s invasion.

Zelensky called the deal a “birthday gift” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

▪ The Hill: GOP lawmaker to introduce bill to block purchase.

▪ The Hill: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) says deal is ‘tarnishing’ Graham’s efforts.

RAMPING UP: The Trump administration’s standoff with the five major networks that make up the White House television pool has escalated further as the Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly investigating the outlets.

Six people familiar told The New York Times that the probe concerns whether antitrust laws were violated when the group — ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox News — briefly suspended their pool coverage of the president. They restored their coverage after a federal judge ordered the White House to allow CNN, MS NOW and Politico back onto the building’s grounds.

The sources told the Times that DOJ officials contacted the networks Friday, demanding communications and materials related to the pool.

“Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act,” a DOJ spokesperson told the outlet. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws.”

The opening of the probe comes as U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee who has been overseeing the case from the three outlets challenging the administration’s ban, is expected to issue a final ruling in the case by Tuesday.

▪ The New York Times: Why a court order didn’t stop Trump from keeping reporters off Air Force One.

STORM’S WAKE: Hurricane Isaias has been downgraded in intensity to a post-tropical storm and finished sweeping through the eastern U.S.

It left behind a significant mark.

At least four deaths have been linked to Isaias, the first hurricane to form of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. The storm made landfall near Destin, Fla., not far from Pensacola, on Friday evening as a Category 2 hurricane before moving into Alabama and continuing northeast, eventually going out to sea.

About 900,000 power outages were reported soon after the storm made landfall. About 170,000 homes remain without power in Florida and Alabama, according to poweroutage.us.

Officials are still reviewing the full extent of the damage.

▪ NewsNation: Victim’s husband recounts experience.

▪ Fox News: Hurricane’s devastating aftermath comes into focus.

Where & When

The president will travel to Youngstown, Ohio, to deliver remarks at 7 p.m. He will then return to the White House.

The House and Senate are out.

Zoom In

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks with reporters outside of his office on Capitol Hill, on Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

FATE UNCERTAIN: House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-La.) political career seems in doubt as he raised the possibility of leaving Congress if Republicans lose the lower chamber in November.

“Heaven forbid, if we lose this majority or whatever, I don’t know what my next chapter of life is,” Johnson told Fox News in an interview last week.

“If God moves on our hearts and says we should, you know, go back to my hometown of Shreveport and start a lawn business, I’ll do that with equal fervor. I mean, I just want to be of my highest and best use to God and to my country,” he continued.

The comments sparked enough chatter that Johnson’s spokesperson, Lance Trover, dismissed speculation that the Speaker would leave.

But some lawmakers and aides told The Hill’s Sudiksha Kochi that a push to choose a new leader for the House GOP is possible if the party suffers major losses next month.

“I think Mike could have done a better job, but it wasn’t just him,” one House member said. “It’s the whole leadership team.”

Democrats have been increasingly favored to win back control of the House as Election Day has approached. Decision Desk HQ’s forecast model currently gives the party a 76 percent chance to win the majority.

Part of that shift has come as Democrats have expanded their lead in the generic congressional ballot.

The Hill’s Mike Lillis reports that the landscape for House Republicans is growing bleaker by the day, noting that top election analysts have shifted more and more projections in Democrats’ favor in recent weeks.

“Republicans holding on to the House would be a shock given where the overall numbers are,” said Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an independent election handicapper based at the University of Virginia.

▪ The Hill: Why North Carolina is shifting Democratic.

▪ The Hill: Trump continues red state campaign swing.

Elsewhere

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas receives Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis upon his arrival in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

TRY AGAIN NEXT YEAR: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has postponed what was scheduled to be the first Palestinian elections in almost 20 years, illustrating the tensions within the West Bank and with Israel.

The elections were set to take place next month, but Abbas pushed them back to next September, also scheduling a presidential election for the same day.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Abbas’s Fatah party for the past 20 years, administers parts of the West Bank under the terms of treaties signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Abbas was first elected president in 2005, and his term has been extended indefinitely, with elections repeatedly being postponed.

While Fatah has remained in charge of the PA, the party has increasingly become more unpopular, with many Palestinians viewing it as corrupt.

The PLO’s executive committee said in a statement that conditions in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip aren’t conducive to holding elections and that Israel has not allowed election materials or international observers to enter Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a post on X that Abbas was attempting to “drag Israel into this.” He called the statement a “ridiculous lie designed to evade responsibility and accountability.”

The decision had been expected as Palestinian factions met in Cairo to discuss delaying the vote, an official for the group Islamic Jihad told The Associated Press. Still, it raises further credibility issues for the PA with Palestinians and the international community.

The U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas reached last year outlined some role for the PA, but it was mostly left undefined.

▪ The Associated Press: Progress stalls on the ceasefire.

Opinion

Lethal injection is no kinder than a firing squad, Megan McArdle writes in The Washington Post.

The ‘scientific’ socialism of Abdul El-Sayed, Allysia Finley writes in The Wall Street Journal.

The Closer

Reporters raise hands to question Vice President Vance, as he speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Sept. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

And finally … Katie Zacharia, the president’s choice to be his next press secretary after Karoline Leavitt, will step behind the podium in the White House briefing room for the first time Tuesday.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Zacharia will start her tenure as White House press secretary today and will do an “introductory” news conference at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Zacharia is a lawyer and conservative commentator who served a brief stint as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year.

“Katie has been with me, in spirit, from the very beginning, and will do a fantastic job!” Trump said.

Leavitt left her role as press secretary in late August, shortly after returning from maternity leave for her second child. The position had been vacant since then.

A rotating group of members of the administration have conducted press briefings in her absence, though the last one was held by Attorney General Todd Blanche almost a month ago.

Comments

Join the conversation: Sign in

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.