Two former South Carolina governors from opposing parties have united behind Democrat Annie Andrews in her bid for the U.S. Senate. Republican David Beasley and Democrat Jim Hodges announced the rare joint endorsement in a video released as the race moves toward its final stretch.
Andrews, a pediatrician, is trying to flip a seat held by Darline Graham, who has Donald Trump's endorsement and is the sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham. The contest has become unexpectedly competitive in a state that has typically been reliably Republican.
"This country is too divided, and the political rhetoric has gotten way, way out of hand," Beasley says in the video. "That's why we're coming together to support Annie Andrews," Hodges adds.
The two men once faced each other at the ballot box. Beasley, who served as governor from 1995 to 1999, lost his re-election bid to Hodges. In the video, they acknowledged that they do not agree on everything, but said they see Andrews as the best candidate to put South Carolina first.
"Annie understands that leadership isn't about making people angrier. Well, it's about making things better," Beasley says. Hodges says Andrews is "willing to put people ahead of politics." Beasley also notes that although they served as governor under different parties, they agree that the state "deserves better than more of the same political fighting."
The endorsement follows an opinion piece Beasley, a Democrat-turned-Republican, wrote last week for the Charleston-based Post and Courier. He lamented the direction of his party under Trump, calling what has happened to it "heartbreaking." He wrote that he has yet to see the president show "compassion or even respect" to a person or group he disagrees with, and described the vitriol as "toxic." The party, he said, is "not the party that I knew, and it is not the party that I consider myself a member of."
Recent polling indicates Graham still leads Andrews. Even so, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report has shifted its rating of the race from "Likely Republican" to "Lean Republican," a move in the Democrats' favor.
South Carolina is not the only state where Republicans have crossed party lines in this year's midterms. In Kansas, former Republican governors Bill Graves and Mike Hayden endorsed Democrat Adam Hamilton, who is challenging Republican senator Roger Marshall. In Texas, another unexpected Senate battleground, Democratic nominee James Talarico has received public backing from more than 20 Republican leaders and members of the Bush family over Republican Ken Paxton. Cross-party endorsements of Democrats by Republicans have also occurred in Georgia, Montana, Florida, Virginia, Illinois and South Dakota.