Lindsey Graham’s only surviving family member said she was “kind of like devastated” as President Donald Trump publicly pushed her to fill her late brother’s Senate seat.
Darline Graham Nordone, 62, of Lexington, S.C., is the woman at the center of it all. The late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) died Saturday night of an aortic dissection — a tear in the body’s main artery — his office said. His office announced the death in the early hours of Sunday morning.
About a day later, on Monday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had recommended Nordone to South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) for the seat. McMaster has a 4 p.m. press conference scheduled to announce his pick.
“Actually, I’m just kind of like devastated right now,” Nordone told the New York Post in a brief phone call Monday — minutes after Trump’s post went up.
Their parents died within 15 months of each other in the 1970s, leaving Darline Graham Nordone orphaned at 13, according to the New York Post. Lindsey Graham, then 22 and still in college, became her legal guardian. He later joined the Air Force and eventually used his military benefits to support her.
“He’s always been there for me,” Darline Graham Nordone said in a video posted by Lindsey Graham’s office. “No matter what.”
Trump called the move a tribute, not a burden, in his Truth Social post.
“This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!” he wrote.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who said he has known Darline Graham Nordone “for years,” backed the president’s push.
“I have faith in Gov. McMaster that he will make the right decision, but I would support the president’s recommendation,” Wilson told the New York Post.
Darline Graham Nordone would serve only through January 3, 2027 — the end of Lindsey Graham’s current term — according to FITSNews. A special primary is in the works for August 11 to replace him on the November ballot, FITSNews reported.
Lindsey Graham often said his proudest achievement had nothing to do with the Senate. In a 2015 interview with C-SPAN, he reflected on his sister’s life.
“Of all the things that have happened in my life, her turning out so well is the highlight of it by far,” Lindsey Graham told C-SPAN, per the New York Post.
UPDATE: Governor McMaster has tapped her to take over for her brother for the remainder of his term.
