One more cook is jumping into the stew that is the South Carolina Senate race.
Nathalie Dupree, a prominent Charleston chef and cookbook author, is announcing her write-in candidacy Thursday in an 11th-hour challenge to Senator Jim DeMint, the Republican incumbent, and Alvin Greene, the unemployed Democratic nominee.
The last United States senator to be elected through a write-in campaign was Strom Thurmond, also from South Carolina, in 1954. Ms. Dupree hopes to follow in his footsteps.
She may be known chiefly for her shrimp and grits, but Ms. Dupree, 70, hopes to change the subject to Mr. DeMint who, she said in a telephone interview, is devoting his time and money to insurgent Republicans in other states rather than helping people in his own poor state. And that, she said, has prompted her to run.
She is expected to announce her candidacy in Columbia and Charleston.
She said in the interview that she was particularly irked at Mr. DeMint’s opposition to getting federal money to dredge the Charleston harbor, which she said the city needed to compete economically with other ports.
“I’m going to make it clear that Jim DeMint doesn’t care for the people of South Carolina as much as he does for his own ego,” she said.
The DeMint campaign has yet to respond to her comments.
Ms. Dupree said that when she decided last week to get into the race, her husband — Jack Bass, an historian and author — told her that she could make a “credible showing,” but asked how she would feel if she came in last.
“I said that I would have said what needed to be said,” she said. “We have had so many backward politicians,” she added, pointing to Mark Sanford, the governor, and Mr. DeMint. Referring to the state’s other Republican senator, she added: “Anybody who can’t work with Lindsey Graham to accomplish something doesn’t have many political skills.”
As for the Democratic nominee, Alvin Greene, Ms. Dupree said: “He hasn’t said a word about Jim DeMint, and he’s really not running a campaign.”
Mr. DeMint is way ahead of Mr. Greene in the polls, and it is not clear at this point whether Ms. Dupree’s late entry will make any difference to voters, but she said it matters to her.
“I can run because I have nothing to lose, and I can state the truth to the people of South Carolina, who know me,” she said. “They’ve known me for 20 some years on TV. I’ve been in their homes.”
She is assembling a campaign team and said she expected to spend $60,000 to $100,000, including for advertising. She is in the market right now for a goose, though they are out of season, because she wants one for a new commercial.
“I want to cook his goose,” Ms. Dupree said of Mr. DeMint. “And it’s time to bring home the bacon.”