Lindsey Graham’s sister sworn in as US Senator days after his death

The late Senator Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline Graham Nordone was sworn in on July 14 to complete the remainder of her brother’s term, which expires in January.

Graham, 62, is the deceased senator’s only sibling.

A political novice who has worked with people with disabilities, she is seen by many analysts as a placeholder until voters elect a more seasoned candidate.

US President Donald Trump and South Carolina’s other senator, Tim Scott, endorsed the late senator’s younger sister for the seat ahead of her appointment.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster on July 13 said that he asked Graham to fill her brother’s seat shortly after he died.

“Lindsey has always been there for me and now I will be there for him,” Graham said at a brief event in Columbia, the state capital, on July 13.

“It is such a privilege to get to finish some of his important work, and I promise to work hard over the next several months to support the president and carry forward the efforts of my brother.”

The elder Graham’s sudden death at 71 has unleashed jockeying among leading Republicans in South Carolina vying for his seat. The open Senate seat, held by just two men for 70 years, is favoured to remain Republican.

Since 2019, the younger Graham has served as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, McMaster’s office said. She previously worked at Clemson University, the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, and the South Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.

She was very close to her brother, who adopted her in his 20s when their parents died.

A preliminary medical examination found that the elder Graham died suddenly on July 11 of an aortic dissection, a tear in the heart’s main artery, caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Darline Graham brings number of women in Senate to record high

The US Senate will have a record 27 women serving simultaneously after South Carolina Republican Darline Graham took the oath of office.

She will be the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate, which will have 11 Republican women and 16 Democratic women upon her joining the chamber.

She is not running in a special August primary to replace him as the Republican nominee on the Nov 3 general election ballot for a full six-year term.

At least two Republican women, Lieutenant-Governor Pamela Evette and Representative Nancy Mace, are considering a Senate campaign. The Democratic nominee is Annie Andrews, a paediatrician.

Eight women in the Senate were eligible to run again this year. Republican Senators Susan Collins (Maine), Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississipi) are seeking new six-year terms, with Collins having the toughest race of the three. Senator Ashley Moody (Florida), who was appointed in January 2025 to the seat formerly held by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is running in a special election to complete the six-year term he won in 2022.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat-New Hampshire), Cynthia Lummis (Republican-Wyoming), Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) are not seeking re-election. Representative Harriet Hageman (R) is the frontrunner to succeed Lummis. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Rep. Angie Craig, both Democrats, are the top contenders to succeed Smith. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) is the GOP nominee in a competitive race for Ernst’s seat.

Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) are running for governor this year while retaining their Senate seats.

Women favoured to succeed men in the Senate include Rep. Julia Letlow (R-Louisiana), who ousted Sen. Bill Cassidy in the GOP primary, and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D), a shoo-in for the seat of retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D).

Darline Graham is the first woman to succeed her brother in the Senate.

Other sets of siblings have served in the Senate, including two pairs of brothers who overlapped for a stretch. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Robert F. Kennedy (D-New York) were senators together from January 1965 until the latter’s assassination in June 1968; their older brother, John F. Kennedy, was a Massachusetts senator for eight years prior to becoming president in 1961. In the early 1800s, Sens. Theodore Foster (R.I.) and Dwight Foster (Mass.) served together as Federalists. BLOOMBERG