Republicans call Annie Andrews ‘anti-gun.’ She explains her platform to end gun violence.

WINNSBORO — The Democrat running for Senate in South Carolina responded Thursday to President Donald Trump painting her as an “anti-gun extremist.”

Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, said her experiences caring for children who unintentionally shot themselves after finding an unsecured gun prompted her into activism.

“It takes one of those experiences to make you want to do something about that,” Andrews said.

Andrews’ former job with Everytown for Gun Safety involved creating a pilot program to train medical students on how to talk to parents about safe gun storage to prevent shootings, according to her campaign.

Her explanations came a day after Trump told rallygoers in Anderson County that “she wants to take your guns away,” and hours before her opponent, GOP Sen. Darline Graham, summed up Andrews’ role with the nation’s largest gun violence prevention group as a “paid anti-gun activist.”

With polls showing an unexpectedly tight race less than two weeks before Election Day, Republicans are putting a spotlight on Andrews’ positions for ending gun violence.

“Andrews has made a living working for a gun control group, hell-bent on gutting the Second Amendment and taking your guns,” Graham told reporters in Columbia.

That’s a serious accusation in South Carolina, where legislators passed the “constitutional carry” law two years ago allowing adults to carry a handgun without a permit.

But Andrews said she respects the Second Amendment; she just wants to protect children.

“I don’t want to take anyone’s guns,” she said after a town hall meeting with voters in rural Fairfield County. It marked the completion of her campaign goal to visit with voters in all 46 counties.

“My platform to address the public health crisis of gun violence does not infringe on the Second Amendment,” Andrews said. “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.”

At the top of her list is “universal background checks,” which would extend federal requirements for FBI background checks, mandated for all firearm sales at or shipped to licensed retailers, to private gun sales or transfers. Gun enthusiasts argue it’s unenforceable without a mandatory gun registry, which they oppose.

On Wednesday night, Trump said Andrews wants to ban “the most popular firearms in America.” He didn’t say what kind.

Andrews has advocated in the past for banning AR-15-style rifles.

And her website says she wants to ban “weapons of war on our streets.” Asked Thursday to be specific, Andrews said she “believes military-grade machine guns and weapons of mass destruction should remain limited under existing law.”

Everytown and the NRA

At her news conference in Columbia, Graham put Andrews’ earnings from Everytown for Gun Safety on a posterboard as a backdrop.

In her candidate financial disclosure, Andrews reported receiving more than $130,000 total from Everytown in 2024 and 2025: about $96,000 from the nonprofit and $35,000 from its political lobbying arm.

She worked for them from May 2023 to May 2025. Though paid separately, her roles for both entities involved “gun violence prevention in medical education and media appearances,” reads her December 2025 filing.

She also reported a salary of $97,000 from the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., a job her campaign has said involved conducting research and teaching, in addition to seeing patients. She left that job in June to campaign.

At the rally, Trump pointed to Andrews’ “F” rating from the National Rifle Association as evidence of her extremism. But an F for a Democrat is standard for the gun rights group.

Graham has an “A” rating and an endorsement from the NRA.

“To me, gun control is how steady you hold your weapon,” she said on stage Wednesday night.

Andrews’ endorsers include her former employer, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund; and Giffords, the anti-gun-violence lobbying nonprofit led by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011 while meeting with constituents in Tucson, Arizona.

Asked about Trump’s rally in the Upstate, Andrews said it shows “the weakness” of her opponent.

“This race is very close,” Andrews said. “He stood on that stage and said horrible things about me, dishonest things about me. If doing that was going to lower gas prices and grocery prices and keep our rural hospitals open, he can say whatever he wants to say. But we know that’s not a path to solving the problems South Carolinians are facing.”

Andrews is scheduled to hold a news conference Friday in Orangeburg County with “more than 10 South Carolina sheriffs” endorsing her, according to her campaign announcement. It comes a week after Graham held a “back the blue” news conference in Greenville to tout endorsements from sheriffs.

The Senate race in South Carolina was upended when Graham’s older brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, died of a ruptured aorta July 11, a month after defeating five GOP opponents toward a fifth term.

Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to fill the remainder of the term ending in January. She advanced to the contest with Andrews after winning a 10-way GOP special primary in August.