Trump confronts a new midterm battleground: South Carolina

WASHINGTON, Oct 29 - President Donald Trump will stage a campaign rally in South Carolina for the second time in two weeks on Thursday, as new polls show the Senate race between incumbent Republican Darline Graham and Democratic challenger Annie Andrews is a toss-up.With control of Congress at stake in Tuesday's midterm elections, some Republicans are beginning to fret that their traditional stronghold of South Carolina has become a battleground state.The race is part of a trend that shows contests in Republican-leaning states now tilting toward Democrats in the campaign's final days, in part because of Trump’s low ratings in opinion polls.Republicans are fighting to retain Senate seats in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Ohio, North Carolina and Maine to maintain their six-seat Senate majority. Polls show Democrats leading in each of those states.Polls and independent analysts favor the Democrats to retake control of the House, while Senate control is considered too close to call. A Democratic victory could place limits on Trump and usher in congressional investigations of his administration over its final two years.Republicans are newly on the defensive in once unthinkable territory. South Carolina hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since Fritz Hollings, who was first elected in 1966 and served until 2005.Trump has also rallied in recent days in Mississippi, where the campaign between Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Scott Colom has tightened. Colom would be the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction, a tenuous period of the 19th century immediately following the Civil War.Republican political operatives have also grown concerned over the Nebraska Senate race between Republican Senator Pete Ricketts and independent candidate Dan Osborn.In South Carolina, Andrews and Graham are competing for a seat once held by Graham's brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, who was one of Trump’s foremost Republican allies and died suddenly in July.Lindsey Graham was a key foreign policy voice in Congress and an interlocutor between Senate Republican leadership and the White House. He long counted his sister as his foremost political adviser, though polls suggest her stumbles on the campaign trail appear to have hurt her standing.Former South Carolina elected officials have also backed Andrews in recent days. Two former governors, Republican David Beasley and Democrat Jim Hodges, endorsed Andrews in a television advertisement.Former Republican Governor Nikki Haley, a Trump appointee during the president’s first term who challenged him for the White House in 2024, has not endorsed either candidate.Responding to criticism of her campaign as unpolished, Graham said she was not a career politician and does not "speak politician." Graham's campaign has said endorsements from political figures mattered less than support from voters and from Trump.Trump and Republicans’ focus in South Carolina and other traditional conservative strongholds has consequences far beyond those states, campaign officials say. Republicans had opportunities to challenge Democrats in Michigan and Georgia in the midterms, and also had hopes of picking off another seat in Minnesota.But defending turf in the South has forced Republicans to divert vital resources away from those races - and sent Trump on a frenetic nationwide campaign tour through 19 states since the start of October.He has rallies planned in Florida, Kansas and Iowa in the final days before the Tuesday vote. REUTERS