South Carolina Governor Appoints Lindsey Graham’s Sister to Replace Late Senator
Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, will finish out the remainder of her brother’s term in the Senate, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster announced Monday, days after the longtime lawmaker’s sudden death.
“Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed. It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darline Graham, to finish his work for him now,” McMaster said Monday, two days after the senator died from an aortic dissection.
The announcement comes after President Trump had endorsed Graham’s “wonderful sister” to be appointed as the senator’s short-term replacement. He said the appointment would be “a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”
Graham was just four months away from running for a fifth term in the Senate, after easily winning his primary race earlier this year. Graham’s sister will now serve out the rest of his term, which ends in early January.
“Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him,” Graham Nordone said on Monday. “I think this is what Lindsey would have wanted, and I plan to honor him in this way.”
State law suggests an August 11 special Republican primary election will be held to fill the seat for the next six-year term, according to the New York Times. Candidates looking to compete in the special election can file as early as July 21, and will have one week to enter the race. The winner of the primary will face off against Democrat Annie Andrews in the general election in November.
Graham Nordone, who has no prior political experience, could enter the special election to replace her brother.
Graham Nordone was raised in part by her brother, who became her legal guardian when she was 13 and he was just 22, after both of their parents died within one year of each other.
Reached for comment by the New York Post after she received Trump’s endorsement, but ahead of the governor’s appointment, Graham Nordone said, “Actually, I’m just kind of like devastated right now.”
Graham Nordone has been described as a longtime political confidante of her brother who appeared alongside him at campaign events and in campaign advertisements.
“He never let me down. Never. I don’t see how he did it, to take on the responsibility of raising a little sister,” Graham Nordone said in a 2014. campaign ad for her brother. “That came from within for Lindsey.”
When he ran for president in 2015, Graham joked that his sister and others in a “rotating” cast of White House hosts could play the role of first lady, since he never married or had children.
Nordone Graham, for her part, is a married mother of two, and now a grandmother. She previously had a career working with people with disabilities, according to the Associated Press.
Read more Senator Lindsey Graham Dies at 71
Related Posts
Trump and Senate Republicans Struggle to Get on the Same Page as Midterms Loom
Former SPLC Finance Officer Arrested on Fraud Charges over Payments to White Supremacist Informants
