Democrat pulls off South Carolina Senate upset

We are talking about that U.S. Senate. Let's see if we can pull up that graphic and let's start with Michigan again. Some of those races are getting numbers in for the U.S. Senate balance of power in the U.S. Senate, and we can show them to you right now, starting with Michigan, Mike Rogers, the Republican, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat. That race separated by 10 percentage points right now, 20% of the votes tallied there in Michigan. And then in Iowa, we're going to take a look at this race with Josh Turek, the Republican, facing Ashley Hinson, the Democrat. I'm sorry, Ashley Hinson, the Republican, Josh Turek, the Democrat. I'm not sure what I just said, but I've got it straight now. And so we're watching those numbers. 30% of estimated votes counted so far. Let's pause on that one if we can with that graphic and just hold that graphic for a minute. We'll be right back. And, Kath, as we watch that and look at that, we've... We here in Minnesota have kept a close eye on Iowa. That's right. We've kept a close eye on Wisconsin. So this is the one in Iowa that has garnered a lot of attention. That's right, this is a very competitive race. With control of majority party control, the US Senate is in the balance. And Hinson is a candidate that really has sort of been critical of President Trump, even though she's a Republican on tariffs on Iran. And so really trying to put distance between herself and the president. And with only 31% of the votes in, it's hard to say, and we don't know where they're coming from if it's working, but I suspect that this will continue to be a close race. Well, it's a different story in Texas. It doesn't seem to be close at all right now. There's a lot going on right now. There is the races that are shaping up with 55% of the votes tallied. This was also a very scrutinized race in the U.S. And a lot of money spent on this race. Almost a billion dollars just on this U.S. Senate race in Texas, which is a record for a Senate race. And it might be worth pointing out that because the Republicans spent so much money and Elon Musk in Texas, hundreds of millions of dollars spent. There was not a lot of money left to spend in other states for Republicans, including Iowa, including Minnesota, South Carolina, just to hold the seat that John Cornyn had. But President Trump did not want Cornyn, so he lost the primary. So Ken Paxton, the controversial attorney general, is running and looks like he may lose it. You mentioned Elon Musk. He spent $250 million on various... races in in the midterms here. Yeah. And I think 187 or 200 in Texas alone. Exactly. In Texas alone. All right. South Carolina as well. Let's take a look at this Senate race. Now, South Carolina is reliably red and you have Darlene Graham, who is the sister of Lindsey Graham, longtime senator from South Carolina, passed away in July suddenly. So she takes a seat and then she runs for the seat. And right now, you have a Democrat, Annie Andrews, winning with 51% of the vote, 87% of estimated votes counted. It hasn't been called yet, but months ago, that wouldn't necessarily be anything that anybody would expect. Annie Andrews is a pediatrician. Neither of these two women are really politicians in any way. It's obvious where Darlene Graham, you know, she was... She was given that seat when her brother died, and now she's running for the seat. She was appointed, I should say. So she is considered the incumbent in this race. And there you go. We have breaking news. Fox News has just called this race for Annie Andrews. So that is a big win for Democrats tonight. Huge. That is huge. And again, really just shows the influence that President Trump had when he urged her appointment and then supported her in the primary. Candidates matter, even when the partisan identification in a state strongly favors one party or the other. And this may be a signal or some sort of indication of what happens next with the MAGA movement that has been so powerful over the last 10 years and what happens with President Trump's influence. Will this continue? Is MAGA President Trump? Does that disappear? Is Trumpism anything without Trump? Probably not. I heard an audible wow out of Boyes back there when we talked about the Annie Andrews being called the winner there in South Carolina. Boyes, tell us the implications of that, sort of what's notable in the state of South Carolina for that Democrat to win. The reason why President Trump has been successful is because he's been able to reclaim the South after Bill Clinton had claimed it for Democrats. And so if Democrats reclaim it going into a presidential race, that's going to be significant. As we look at 2028 and to Pat's point, the end of the MAGA movement, there's going to be a divorce from the MAGA movement if certain Republicans want to be successful in two years. I read yesterday how when the midterms are over, depending on how it goes, that the Republican Party will be looking for a new leader. They would consider at that point Donald Trump a lame duck president and that they will be looking for somebody else to lead the party. Does that? Does that flow with what you see? Yeah, but it's going to be a highly competitive primary. It's going to be, you have Marco Rubio, you have J.D. Vance, just off the top of my head. And then you're going to have some folks who really want to be independent. We're getting more.