Catherine Fleming Bruce has officially launched her campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is seeking a fifth term in office.
Fleming Bruce, a Sumter native and Democrat who hails from a prominent Black Catholic political family, announced her run at an event in front of the state house in Columbia on Wednesday.
“Those South Carolina lawmakers who have hitched themselves to Donald Trump instead of to South Carolina, are in trouble,” she told supporters.
“Those here and those under the sound of my voice, we band of sisters and brothers are reminded by our presence here today, that though the institutions around us fray and seem to move toward collapse, we have an iron core of values that remains untouched, ready to be called on to make our commitment to one another even stronger.”
https://t.co/YIAJyMTK6E pic.twitter.com/IdYmjCbJrm
— Catherine Fleming Bruce (@tnovsa) November 6, 2025
Fleming Bruce, like many Democrats challenging Republican incumbents in the 2026 cycle, is emphasizing her plan to address affordability, healthcare access, and the agenda of Trump allies in Washington. During a previous Senate run in 2022, she challenged Sen. Tim Scott, leading the first round of the Democratic primary and advancing to a runoff.
Her 2026 campaign has already been endorsed by Run Sister Run PAC, which supports Black women seeking political office, and a number of local politicians in South Carolina.
Several Democrats have joined Fleming Bruce in declaring for the race, including former congressional candidates Dr. Annie Andrews and Brandon Brown. Andrews led the Democratic field in fundraising as of June, with more than $2.8 million raised and nearly $1.2 million on hand.
Referencing her previous Senate campaign, Fleming Bruce noted that she received the third-highest amount of votes in the 2022 Democratic primary despite being outspent four to one by her opponents. She had just over $5,000 on hand at the finance report deadline this summer.
“Here in the Palmetto State, we have sometimes allowed dark money and unwise leadership to take us down the road to public corruption,” she said during her campaign launch speech this week.
“I served as foreman to the Statewide Grand Jury in 2017 and 2018, during our state’s longest trial for public corruption. I pledge as your next US Senator to use lessons that I learned at that time, during the investigation into dark money that led to our signing off on six indictments and the resignation of six state legislators.”
The 63-year-old businesswoman, preservationist, and activist founded the Collaborative for Community Trust, which has worked to preserve historic South Carolina sites related to African-American women in the Civil Rights Movement. She also serves as president of Tnovsa Global Commons, which is also engaged in preservation work.
Fleming Bruce released a documentary, “A Perfect Equality: Conflicts And Achievements of Historic Black Columbia,” in 1992, and published her first book, “The Sustainers: Being, Building and Doing Good Through Activism in the Sacred Spaces of Civil Rights, Human Rights and Social Movements,” in 2016.
Though not considered the frontrunner in her 2026 race, Fleming Bruce has strong ties to Black politics in South Carolina. Most notably, she is the daughter of the late Louis Fleming, who served as chairman of the Sumter County Council from 2005 until his resignation due to health reasons 2006.
Fleming Bruce herself was a state director for Black Voters Matter’s “March on SC” in 2018, worked on the 2020 presidential campaign of California businessman Tom Steyer, and briefly served as director of operations for the Richland County Democratic Party in 2023.
Voters in South Carolina will head to the polls next summer for the 2026 Senate primaries on Tuesday, June 9.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
