Another Democratic candidate joins 2026 race to remove U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham

Columbia resident and local activist Catherine Fleming Bruce joined the race to unseat longtime U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham earlier this month.

While the Democratic candidate has posted about her candidacy on social media for a few months, she launched the campaign on the State House grounds Nov. 5.

Bruce will compete against Charleston pediatrician Annie Andrews and Upstate businessman Brandon Brown for the Democratic nomination in June. Graham, Project 2025 director Paul Dans and businessman Mark Lynch are running for the Republican nomination.

Bruce has lived in Columbia for several decades, she said. She is a local activist and historical preservationist.

She previously ran for U.S. Sen. Tim Scott’s seat in 2022, but she lost in the primary runoff to Krystle Matthews. She also unsuccessfully ran for the South Carolina Democratic Party Chair in 2023.

“I thought at that time that things were not in a way that would best support the kind of things that I value. Making sure that we have democracy, making sure we had equity and access through all of our government programs,” Bruce said in an interview with The State. “And all of that has just worsened.”

She filed April and October reports with the Federal Election Commission for the U.S. Senate race, but she reported $0 raised and spent this election cycle on both reports. She has $5,030 cash on hand, according to the October quarterly report. Andrews, her most well-funded competitor in the Democratic primary, has over $1.2 million cash on hand.

Graham, the longtime incumbent, had over $14.5 million cash on hand at the end of September. He also has the endorsement of President Donald Trump.