When Lindsey Graham was in college, his parents died, just over a year apart. But he worried most about his sister, who, at 13, was suddenly an orphan. Graham became her legal guardian – and later adopted her so she could receive his benefits through his service as an air force lawyer.
On Monday, Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s Republican governor, announced that the late senator’s younger sister, Darline Graham Nordone, would fill the Senate seat he held until his sudden death on Saturday night, aged 71.
“Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed,” McMaster said at a press conference convened at South Carolina’s state capital in Columbia. “It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darline Graham, to finish his work for him now.”
Surrounded by grieving family and friends, Nordone, 62, accepted the appointment, saying her brother had “always been there for me. And now I will be there for him.”
Family appointments in the event of a death or vacancy have a long history in American politics. Coined the “widow’s succession”, the practice most commonly involved spouses temporarily filling their husband’s seat until a successor was elected – a path that helped open Congress to more women in the 20th century. Nordone’s appointment follows the same caretaker tradition.
Upon being sworn in on Tuesday, Nordone will make history as the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate.
The Graham children grew up in a one-room house behind the Sanitary Café, a combination bar, pool hall and liquor store their parents operated in Central, South Carolina. Nearly a decade apart in age, the siblings forged a tight bond from the start. It was Lindsey who first taught her to spell her name, incorrectly as it turned out. Although her birth certificate reads “Darlene”, she continued to spell it with an I. He also taught her to ride a bike, running alongside her and shouting: “Keep pedaling!” After their parents died, Graham returned to college but spent the weekends visiting his sister, she recalled in interviews.
As Graham rose through the Republican ranks, Nordone was a constant presence by his side.
When Graham first ran for the US House in 1992, Nordone knocked doors for his campaign. In 2014, she appeared in a campaign ad, telling the story of how her brother took on the responsibility of raising his teenage sister. In 2015, she introduced him as he launched his presidential campaign outside their childhood home, telling supporters: “He has never let me down.”
Many of the tributes that poured out for Graham’s death over the weekend also extended condolences to Nordone, his only immediate surviving family member. He never married or had children. When asked during his 2016 presidential campaign who would serve as his first lady if he were to be elected, Graham quipped: “Well, I’ve got a sister. She could play that role if necessary.”
He did not win the Republican nomination, losing to Donald Trump – a rival he had once mercilessly criticized before later becoming one of the president’s closest Senate allies and a frequent golf partner.
Before McMaster announced his decision, Trump publicly urged the governor to appoint Graham’s “wonderful sister” to complete the remainder of his Senate term, which ends on 3 January.
“This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In brief remarks on Monday, Nordone indicated that she would serve as a steward of her brother’s legacy.
“I promise to work hard over the next several months to support the president and carry forward the efforts of my brother on behalf of the citizens of South Carolina and the United States,” she said. “I think this is what Lindsey would have wanted, and I plan to honor him in this way.”
Nordone, who has never held public office, arrives in the US Senate at an extraordinary moment, with lawmakers facing a packed legislative agenda, amid a war with Iran that her brother aggressively advocated for. The chamber is also locked in negotiations over the National Defense Authorization Act, and pressure from Trump to pass controversial voting legislation that lacks support among Republicans.
Prior to her appointment, Nordone served since 2019 as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, where she focused on expanding employment and independent living opportunities for residents who are blind or have low vision, according to McMaster’s office. Before that, she held positions at Clemson University and in two South Carolina state agencies.
Although less common today, governors occasionally still look to family members for caretaker appointments. In 2000, the Democratic governor of Missouri, Mel Carnahan, died in a plane crash while campaigning for a seat in the US Senate. He posthumously won the election and his widow, Jean Carnahan, was appointed to serve in the Senate until a special election in 2002, which she lost.
One of the most controversial family appointments came in 2002, when then Alaska governor Frank Murkowski named his daughter, Lisa, then a member of the Alaska House of Representatives, to the US Senate seat he had vacated. She has remained there ever since.
While governors often look to fill Senate vacancies with experienced politicians, that is not always the case. Earlier this year, after senator Markwayne Mullin joined Trump’s cabinet as homeland security secretary, Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt appointed energy executive Alan Armstrong – who had never held elected office – to serve the remainder of his term. Under Oklahoma law, Armstrong cannot seek election to a full term in the upcoming general election.
At the time of his death, Graham was seeking a fifth Senate term, having won the Republican nomination only last month. Speculation has quickly turned to who will run to permanently succeed him on the November ballot. Although Nordone did not explicitly rule out a bid, she is not expected to enter the special Republican primary next month.
Long before Nordone found herself preparing to join the institution her brother loved, Graham had suggested that his sister possessed the best qualities of a public servant. Asked in 2015 what role she might play if he reached the White House, he said: “She would be a great representative of our country. I can’t think of a better person to represent our country in an event than my sister.”
