Video taking off 29x its usual first day

South Carolina becomes a Senate battleground in CBS News ratings

Zak Hudak examines Annie Andrews' opening against Republican Darline Graham, while a second unexpectedly competitive contest emerges in Kansas.

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CBS News Story of November 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 531,173 views a day, 29 times a normal first day on this channel (18,040).

CBS News shifts rating of South Carolina Senate race for Lindsey Graham's old seat

Things we can learn from the video

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0:00CBS News rates South Carolina "Lean Republican," adding the Graham-Andrews contest to its Senate battlegrounds.
0:43Hudak identifies Trump's lower approval rating and reproductive rights as factors helping Andrews.
1:17Hudak says Graham's foreign-policy remark and reliance on her brother's reputation remain campaign issues.
2:46Hudak links Kansas's competitive Senate contest to economic pressures affecting farmers and the state economy.

CBS News puts Republican appointee Darline Graham and Democratic pediatrician Annie Andrews at the center of an expanded Senate battleground map. Its new South Carolina rating is "Lean Republican": still an advantage for Graham, but a contest the network considers competitive.

Political reporter Zak Hudak points to an unusual opening for Andrews in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1998. He identifies President Trump's lower approval rating and reproductive rights as factors helping her campaign.

Graham, who holds the seat previously occupied by her brother Lindsey Graham, faces questions about her own credentials. Hudak revisits her remark that foreign policy was not her area and says voters are still thinking about it. He describes her campaign pitch as leaning heavily on her connection to her brother.

The discussion has drawn about 343,000 views in its first eleven hours, an unusually large early audience for a CBS News regular video.

The segment also turns to Kansas, where Republican Senator Roger Marshall faces Democrat Adam Hamilton. CBS rates that contest "Lean Republican" too. Hudak links its competitiveness to the effects of Trump's economic policies on farmers and the wider state economy, putting a second traditionally Republican state under closer scrutiny.