President Trump repeatedly directed an anti-trans slur at South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Annie Andrews on Monday as he urged voters to support Republican incumbent Darline Graham Nordone in next month’s election.
“Annie ‘Trannie’ Andrews is running against our wonderful Darline Graham for the Senate in South Carolina,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post backing Graham. She is the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and was appointed to succeed him after his unexpected death on July 11.
Trump used the slur two additional times in the message. He characterized Graham as a “High Quality person, maybe the Highest,” before attacking Andrews over a series of issues, including transgender rights, immigration, policing, taxes, military policy and gun ownership. Trump claimed Andrews would support “Transgender for Everyone, Open Borders, Defunding the Police, High Taxes, a Weak Military,” and efforts to repeal Second Amendment protections.
“Trannie is not for South Carolina, and South Carolina must show, in the upcoming Election, that it is not for her,” the president added.
Andrews, a pediatrician who is not transgender, is considered an underdog as she seeks to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from South Carolina since 1998. Still, the latest RealClearPolitics polling average shows Graham ahead by only 2.4 percentage points in a race with limited polling.
Andrews did not directly address Trump’s remarks in a subsequent post on X. Instead, she wrote that she was running “as a mom and a pediatrician” to advocate for her patients, her three children and South Carolina. She also pledged to work with anyone focused on putting the state first, saying that lowering costs and improving life for families would require cooperation.
“If you care more about your bills than the politics in Washington, this campaign is for you,” Andrews wrote.
Former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, a Republican, condemned Trump’s comments as “abhorrent.”
“Elections don’t have to be about cruelty and lies,” wrote Beasley, who served as governor from 1995 to 1999. “South Carolina deserves better. I urge voters to look at the merits of each candidate and cast their vote accordingly. We must reject politics based on division and hate. While South Carolinians can strongly disagree with one another, we can do so civilly and with honest intentions for the betterment of our communities and well being of our families.”
