Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatric physician running for the U.S. Senate in South Carolina against the Trump-backed Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), torched Graham’s attack on government-run healthcare on Wednesday and challenged her to a debate.
“I believe that healthcare is a human right, that we must shift America’s profit-motivated healthcare system to a patient-centered healthcare system that actually meets the needs of everyone in this country,” the Democrat said on CNN Wednesday.
Graham, who won the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, criticized Andrews’ support of gun control and “government-run health care.”
The sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham also included an anecdote about their parents.
“My parents worked long, hard hours to make ends meet,” she said. “We didn’t take vacations. If they were sick, they had to get up and go to work because if the doors weren’t open, we weren’t making money. My mother passed away when I was 11, and my father just over a year later.”
Andrews responded to Graham’s anecdote Wednesday by saying, “I believe that we deserve better. I believe that Darline’s parents deserved better.”
Graham was essentially saying that “her healthcare plan is ‘you should work hard until you die,’’’ Andrews argued. “I’m a physician who’s worked on the front lines of America’s broken healthcare system for 20 years, taking care of South Carolina’s sick and injured children.”
The Democrat told host Boris Sanchez that her opponent “is resorting to culture war topics that have no basis in reality,” while she is focused on talking to South Carolina voters.
“They’re frustrated that Trump ran on lowering grocery prices and not starting new wars, and he’s done the exact opposite of that,” she said.
Andrews said she had challenged Graham to a televised debate, but has not heard back. The Republican botched an answer about national security at a prior debate.
“This is an open Senate seat, and voters deserve to hear from both of us, but I don’t have a lot of high hopes that Darline will be brave enough to step on the debate stage with me,” Andrews said.