As recently as July, few political observers were willing to give South Carolina’s U.S. Senate race a second look. Sen. Lindsey Graham had prevailed in a Republican primary, and the longtime incumbent was on a glide path to another term.

Roughly three months later, in the aftermath of the senator’s unexpected death, the political world’s approach to the race is now spectacularly different. Indeed, Donald Trump is headed back to South Carolina for another campaign rally with appointed Sen. Darline Graham — the president will appear in Pickens County, which he carried by 53 points two years ago — as part of an apparent rescue mission. The Post and Courier in Charleston reported:

President Donald Trump will campaign for Darline Graham tonight at a mid-week, midterm rally many see as a last-minute effort to push her over the top in her unexpectedly close race against Democrat Annie Andrews.

A year ago, the idea of a Republican president campaigning for a Republican incumbent in one of the state’s most conservative regions would have been unthinkable. Trump won South Carolina by nearly 18 points just two years ago. … But a lot has changed in a year.

The problem for Republicans isn’t just that Trump’s visit would have been “unthinkable”; it’s also that it’s apparently necessary. The party is having to invest several million dollars in the South Carolina race, and a new GOP attack ad against Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee, is so hysterical that it reinforces impressions of Republican panic.

This coincides with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifting the race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican,” the race’s second rating change toward Democrats in as many weeks.

Meanwhile, the same Cook Political Report also moved Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican,” as local prosecutor Scott Colom’s Democratic candidacy starts to make headway against incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

The Washington Post reported a few weeks ago that Colom was proving to be such a capable candidate that “top Democratic officials and donors [are] increasingly hopeful that he could pull off the inconceivable.” This week, the party actually opened its wallet. Politico reported:

Senate Majority PAC is putting an initial $1.2 million on television statewide through Election Day to boost Scott Colom, the group announced Tuesday — another plunge into deep-red territory for Democrats as they take advantage of a dismal environment for Republicans. […]

Until now, Democrats said their resources were stretched too thin across a widening map to allow them to play in the Magnolia State. SMP is launching its first ad Wednesday, attacking Hyde-Smith as a “do-nothing” senator, and is planning a digital program as well.

“This really could be the year for a Mississippi miracle,” E.J. Dionne Jr. wrote in his latest New York Times column.

With 13 days remaining in the midterms cycle and the wind apparently at Democrats’ back, the scope of what constitutes a “long shot” is changing in ways that must be making Republican leaders awfully nervous. Watch this space.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

The post As the midterm map expands, Democrats take a bold look at Senate races in the Deep South appeared first on MS NOW.

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