Annie Andrews

Andrews received her MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed pediatric residency training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Before running for Congress she had worked as a pediatrician in children’s hospitals for 15 years.⁠[1]

By 2021 she was an associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), had practiced medicine in Charleston for more than a decade and lived in Mount Pleasant. Her husband, Charlie Andrews, is also an MUSC physician; they have three children.⁠[2]

In August 2021 Andrews joined other South Carolina physicians in calling for universal masking in schools. She had also spoken on gun reform as a volunteer with Moms Demand Action. She had not previously run for political office.⁠[2]

On November 8, 2021, Andrews announced that she would file to run as a Democrat for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace. “I will be just as honest and forthright with the people of the Lowcountry,” she said.⁠[2]

She ran as a political outsider focused on children and families, on a platform that included gun safety measures, codifying abortion access and following the science on climate change. She raised about $1.9 million, compared with more than $5.8 million for Mace.⁠[3]

In the general election on November 8, 2022, Mace won re-election with about 56% of the vote in unofficial returns, and Andrews conceded that night at the American Theater in downtown Charleston; she lost by 14 percentage points.⁠[3][4]

Andrews recalled in 2025 that Mace had accused her of abusing children during the 2022 campaign, and that when she tried to return to work at a children’s hospital after the election she was not offered a contract, which she believed was political retaliation. She said her views had not changed: “it is my duty to care for every child.”⁠[5]

On April 17, 2023, Andrews announced the national group “Their Future. Our Vote.” and an affiliated political action committee, Their Future, which aimed to raise $5 million to $10 million to back federal candidates supporting measures on climate change, quality education, gun legislation, strengthening democracy, and child hunger and poverty; she planned to transfer the remaining $43,000 from her 2022 congressional account to the effort. “After losing, I knew my fight wasn’t over,” she said.⁠[6]

She also said she would resign from MUSC and, from July 1, 2023, become a clinical professor of pediatrics at George Washington University and a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington.⁠[6]

She went on to serve as founder and CEO of Their Future. Our Vote. and Their Future PAC, researched gun violence prevention, and became a senior advisor to Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action. Their Future PAC gave $7,000 to candidates in the 2024 cycle and had about $5,000 on hand at the end of 2024.⁠[1][4]

On May 29, 2025, Andrews announced a campaign for the 2026 U.S. Senate election in South Carolina against four-term Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.⁠[4]

In September 2025 she said, “South Carolina is not a red state,” and that “the number one, two, and three issues are affordability.” She said she supports the Second Amendment as well as universal background checks, a federal secure storage law and a federal red flag law.⁠[5]

Andrews has said she supports broader access to affordable health care, including Medicaid and Medicare; higher wages for South Carolina workers and an end to tax breaks for billionaires; she has said South Carolina’s Heartbeat Law puts women’s lives at risk and exposes doctors to criminal liability, and she seeks to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade; she supports congressional term limits and a ban on corporate PAC contributions to politicians; and she favors a diplomacy-first foreign policy with congressional approval for any use of military force.⁠[7]

On June 9, 2026, Andrews defeated Brandon Brown and Kyle Freeman in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate; the Associated Press called the race for her at 8:37 p.m. that evening.⁠[8]

After Lindsey Graham’s death, his sister Darline GrahamDarline GrahamDarline Graham is an American public servant and Republican politician whose career has centered on vocational rehabilitation and employment services for people with disabilities; in July 2026 she was appointed to succeed her late brother, Lindsey Graham, as U.S. senator from South Carolina, and she lost the general election that November.Open the full entry, appointed to finish his Senate term, won the Republican special primary runoff on August 25 and became Andrews’s opponent in the November election.⁠[9][10]

In late August Andrews campaigned on raising workers’ wages and expanding affordable child care, and said she would fight for reproductive rights by restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade. In Greenville she said South Carolinians “deserve a thinking person in this U.S. Senate seat.” Both candidates were described as political outsiders, and either would become the first woman elected to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate.⁠[10]

In the general election on November 3, 2026, Andrews defeated Republican Sen. Darline Graham; the Associated Press called the race for her on election night.⁠[11]

In her concession speech Graham described the preceding months as a “very difficult few months.”⁠[12]

Personal website: https://drannieandrews.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

X: Public account: https://x.com/AnnieAndrewsMD (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AnnieAndrewsSC (opens in a new window).⁠[13]