Trump hammers culture war attacks on Andrews in final rally for Graham

President Trump launched a barrage of culture war attacks Thursday against Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews during his third and final campaign rally for Sen. Darline Graham (R) in South Carolina.

“Darline Graham has devoted her entire life to the people of this state, and now she’s running to save you from a radical left lunatic,” Trump said to the crowd before using an anti-transgender slur he’s often applied to the career pediatrician’s name.

He also called Andrews a “mutilizer, a rabid advocate for taxpayer-funded child sexual mutilation.”

Andrews, in a direct-to-camera ad earlier this month, hit back on the allegations from Trump.

“So I want you to hear me loud and clear: I don’t support biological men playing women’s sports and I don’t support — and haven’t ever performed — gender surgery for minors,” Andrews says in the ad.

The physician has in the past supported gender-affirming care for transgender youth. In 2022, she opposed the Save Women’s Sports act in South Carolina that would ban transgender students from participating in school sports that align with their gender identity, calling it a “shameful legislation that does nothing to protect or support women or children in SC.”

“In fact, it is actively harmful,” she wrote on social platform X . “I will always support trans youth.”

Trump personally lobbied Graham to run for her late brother’s seat. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was a major Trump ally in Congress before his surprising death over the summer.

An average of polls on Real Clear Polling shows the race as a toss-up, with Darline Graham holding a slight lead.

Trump also hit Andrews on gun control, calling her a “vicious anti-gun radical who endorsed a ban on the most popular firearms in America.”

Andrews formerly volunteered with the South Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action, the grassroots arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, but said at a town hall last week that she doesn’t “want to take anyone’s guns.”

“My platform to address the public health crisis of gun violence does not infringe on the Second Amendment,” Andrews said, according to the South Carolina Daily Gazette. “I support the Second Amendment, law-abiding citizens’ rights to own firearms, but I know we need to do something about this public health crisis.”

Trump pointed to her “F” rating from the National Rifle Association, in contrast to his “A” rating. The NRA has endorsed Graham in the race.

The president said Andrews is also a proponent of defunding the police. There’s no record of Andrews explicitly backing policies to defund law enforcement. She has hit Graham for not funding certain bills that would support officers.

“Our police officers put their lives on the line every day and deserve more than hollow words — they deserve a senator who will sign on to legislation that protects them and supports their families,” Andrews said in a statement earlier this month, according to reports.

Trump’s focus on culture-war issues comes as the president and his party face economic headwinds largely brought about by the war in Iran. Trump’s approval rating has hit record lows in the weeks before the midterms.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey released earlier this week found that 32 percent of U.S. adults support Trump’s job performance, while 66 percent disagreed.

The poll also showed that 37 percent of voters said Democrats have a better approach to the economy, while 33 percent said the same about Republicans. That figure is a stark change from polls taken before the start of the Iran war, which gave Republicans an edge on the economy.