Long-serving South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham died Saturday at the age of 71 from a life-threatening aortic tear, leaving a sudden vacancy in the U.S. Senate that has sparked a process to fill the seat ahead of November’s general election. Graham, who had already secured the Republican Party’s nomination to run for another term this fall, built a deeply close lifelong bond with his younger sister, Darline Nordone, shaped by an early family tragedy that tied the two together forever.
When the siblings were still young, their parents passed away within just 15 months of one another. At the time, Graham was 22 years old, while Nordone was only 13. As he went on to build his career through law school, service in the U.S. Air Force, and decades of public office, he remained her closest guardian, eventually legally adopting her to ensure she could access his military benefits if anything unexpected happened to him. In a 2015 interview with *The New York Times*, Nordone described Graham as “a brother, a father and a mother rolled into one”, reflecting the unique, all-encompassing role he played in her life. A mother of two who currently works to connect people with disabilities to stable employment, Nordone has stood by her brother through every step of his decades-long political career; Graham even once joked that she would serve as his first lady if he had won the presidency.
Following Graham’s passing, former U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly thrown his support behind Nordone to serve as the interim senator filling the vacancy until the newly elected senator takes office in January. On his social platform Truth Social, Trump released a post Monday stating that he had recommended Nordone to South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who holds the constitutional authority to appoint a temporary replacement for the vacant seat. “This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly,” Trump wrote in his post.
Trump’s endorsement is not the only one backing Nordone for the temporary role: South Carolina’s other sitting Republican Senator Tim Scott has also publicly expressed his support, telling CBS News that she “would be a wonderful placeholder” for the seat ahead of November’s vote. Multiple other Republican candidates have already publicly announced their intention to run for the full Senate term in the upcoming general election, following Graham’s unexpected passing.
Governor McMaster has scheduled a formal news conference for 16:00 EDT Monday, where he plans to first reflect on Graham’s life and decades of public service, before officially announcing his appointment to fill the ongoing Senate vacancy. As of Monday afternoon, Nordone has not released any public statement responding to her brother’s death or the proposal to appoint her to the interim Senate seat.