Graham's Sister Will Be SC's First Female Senator

Darline Graham Nordone, who was appointed Monday to serve the remaining months of the Senate term that her late brother, Lindsey Graham, left behind when he died over the weekend, hasn't been in office before. But through her brother's decades of public service, Nordone has been by his side, supporting him in speeches, appearances, and even campaign ads, the AP reports. Besides being a frequent attendee at Graham's political events, Nordone is woven deeply into her brother's personal and political biography. After both of their parents died in just over a year, Graham, then age 22, became legal guardian for his 13-year-old sister.

Now, after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster tapped Nordone to serve in Graham's seat until January, Nordone is heading to Washington, tasked with representing the interests for which her brother advocated with passion. Sources tell the AP that Nordone will be sworn in Wednesday. She will be the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate. A special primary held next month will sort out which Republican moves forward in the general election to face Democrat Annie Andrews in November.

• While Graham was in his early 20s, his life—and that of his sister—was turned upside down. Their mother died in 1976 after battling Hodgkin's lymphoma. Fifteen months later, his sister, then 13, discovered their father after he suffered a heart attack in his sleep and died. Graham was just beginning law school at the University of South Carolina. With both parents gone, he pivoted, saying that his chief goal was to ensure his sister was cared for.
• Making regular treks from school in Columbia to Seneca, where his sister was being looked after by relatives, Graham kept tabs on his sister from then on and became her legal guardian. After he became a military lawyer in the Air Force, he adopted her, to ensure that she would receive his military benefits.

• Graham, who never married or had children of his own, once joked as he ran for president in 2016 that his sister could be among a "rotating" cast of White House hosts standing in as first lady. But the bond between the two, aside from being integral to Graham's own biography, was evident in their public appearances. When Graham filed his candidacy paperwork in March for this year's election, Nordone was by his side, along with her children and grandchildren.
• "What have I learned in this life I've led? I take nothing for granted. I count every blessing, every day," Graham said then, going on to recount how he and his sister forged through life together from that point. "I understand what a blessing my life has been and the only way I can pay you back for the blessings I've received is to be the most thoughtful, relevant, aggressive senator."
• Nordone has worked with people with disabilities. Since 2019, she has been Commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, "where she has worked to expand opportunities for South Carolinians who are blind or have low vision to achieve employment and independence," Gov. Henry McMaster's office said in a statement announcing her appointment. Talking to C-SPAN in 2015, Graham said of his own life that his sister's success "is the highlight of it, by far."
• Bob McAlister, a former consultant to Graham on several campaigns, reflected on how the difficulties in their growing up bonded the siblings in a way that most would not understand. "He grew up with nothing ... and I think the way he and Darline grew up just had an indelible impact on him, and for some reason, it gave him the drive that he had to do what he did," he said, adding: "A lot of people have different ideas about Lindsey from what they've seen on TV and all that, but everything about him can be traced back to his boyhood, the way he grew up, the way he took care of his sister."