Lindsey Graham’s Sister Responds to President Trump Suggesting She Fill Late Brother’s Senate Seat

In the wake of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s tragic and unexpected passing, President Trump has recommended that his beloved sister, Darline Graham Nordone, temporarily fill his Senate seat.

This morning, President Trump floated the idea on Truth Social:

I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina. This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly! President DONALD J. TRUMP

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has the final authority on the matter.

If appointed to replace her brother’s seat, then Darline would serve as interim Senator until the midterm elections this November, when South Carolina voters will decide who should fill the seat in the long-term.

This would be a beautiful tribute to Lindsey Graham, especially given the fact that the late senator played a huge role in raising his sister.

New York Post reporter Josh Christenson spoke with Darline following President Trump’s suggestion and shared her reaction:

NEW: I just spoke briefly with the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's sister Darline Graham Nordone after President Trump recommended she serve as her late brother's interim replacement

"Actually, I'm just kind of like devastated right now," she said, declining to speak further about…

— Josh Christenson (@jchristenson_) July 13, 2026

NEW: I just spoke briefly with the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline Graham Nordone after President Trump recommended she serve as her late brother’s interim replacement

“Actually, I’m just kind of like devastated right now,” she said, declining to speak further about the potential appointment

Darline is a constituent of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who also told me: “I have faith in Gov. McMaster that he will make the right decision, but I would support the president’s recommendation”

Darline and her brother were very close throughout their entire lives.

After their parents passed away when Darline was just 12 years old, Lindsey Graham formally adopted his sister and joined the Air Force in order to ensure her security.

The full New York Post article provided more background on their relationship:

Graham’s father, Florence James Graham, had also died of a heart attack at around the same age. Fifteen months before, the future senator’s mother passed away from cancer in 1976.

Darline was only 13 years old at the time, and Lindsey Graham, then 22, told her: “I’m going to take care of you.”

“I was just a kid. I remembered that day Lindsey came running in and just grabbed me up and hugged me,” she said in a recent video posted by the senator’s office. “He’s always been there for me. No matter what.”

When running for president in 2016, Graham had even joked about his sister serving as his first lady along with a “rotating” cast of other friends.

“I’ve got a sister, she could play that role if necessary,” he told the Daily Mail in a June 2015 interview when asked about being the first lifelong bachelor in the White House since former President James Buchanan.

The Graham parents had run a bar and pool hall in Central, S.C., where, for a time, they had raised their two kids in a backroom, the senator later shared in a memoir.

After their deaths, Graham enlisted in the Air Force and became Darline’s legal guardian so he could use his military benefits to support his sister.

She went on to marry and raise two kids while working in roles that helped disabled people find employment, according to The New York Times.

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“Of all the things that have happened in my life, her turning out so well is the highlight of it by far,” he said in a C-SPAN interview in 2015.

“If she took a role on 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.”