Andrews begins “Patients and Prices” tour, addresses Trump’s anti-trans slur
With the general election less than a month away, candidates are continuing to hit the campaign trail. Tuesday afternoon, Senate candidate Dr. Annie Andrews spoke with supporters and undecided voters during her “Patients and Prices” tour outside of the Bethlehem Community Center on McRae Street.
According to Andrews, key parts of her agenda will include stopping Medicaid budget cuts, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, providing more modern healthcare services for Veterans, and holding insurance companies accountable for high premiums and lack of human interaction.
Should she win, Andrews would become the nation’s first pediatrician to serve as a Senator.
“I know my pediatrician colleagues feel the way that I feel about this assault on the Medicaid program, this assault on science with the defunding of the CDC and dismantling of the immunization schedule, the frustration with watching diseases like measles become a real threat in communities across this country,” she says.
A recent Trafalgar poll shows Andrews and her competitor, Senator Darline Graham are in a neck-and-neck race. CNN now reports that a top GOP-aligned Super PAC will spend $5 million on the Graham campaign here in South Carolina.
“We’ve been building a people power movement that is not just for Democrats, but it’s for Republicans and Independents who are ready for change. And I think what we are seeing happening nationally and what we’re seeing with the rhetoric ad the money coming into this state to prop up my opponent is a reflection of the hard work I’ve been doing the last 18 months to build this campaign that is for everyone that is poised to deliver a victory in four weeks,” says Andrews.
Ryan Manuelsmith says he recently left the Republican party to join the Democratic party. “This country is heading in the wrong direction, and we need to fix it. And I think being a more moderate Democrat is the way to do that,” he says.
On Monday evening, President Donald Trump called Andrews an anti-transgender slur on truth social — writing, in part, that she is in favor of “transgender for everyone.”
Andrews tells ABC Columbia’s Lee Williams that her job as a pediatrician is to care for all children. However she reiterated that she does not support biological men playing in women’s sports, nor does she support gender affirming surgeries on minors.
“If name calling would help lower gas prices and grocery prices, he (Trump) can call me all the names he wants. But I don’t think that’s gonna get the job done. South Carolinians deserve more from everyone in elected office when we’re facing record high gas prices, diesel prices, grocery prices and impending healthcare prices we talked about here today,” says Andrews.
Williams reached out to the Graham campaign for comment on Andrews’ campaign event, as well as President Trump’s recent Truth Social post, but did not receive a response.
Dr. Andrews and Senator Graham are set to debate on October 11th. The general election will take place on November 3rd.
