SerpApi.Org
Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, won’t be following his footsteps when it comes to political agenda. Unlike the late Republican, who was much more focused on the Russia-Ukraine war, the US-Israel war against Iran, national security, and foreign policy, Graham Nordone said she plans to work mainly on domestic issues that affect the people of South Carolina on a daily basis.
Graham Nordone, who replaced her brother Lindsey Graham as South Carolina’s Senator, after his unexpected death this month, sat for an interview on Hannity on Fox News, where she recalled her thoughts on the late Senator’s statements on talk shows.
“I used to see him on the talk shows,” Graham Nordone said. “I would watch him, and I’d be like, ‘Lindsey, are you just talking about national security all the time?’” she said.
“And I understand that’s important. Protecting our borders, national security, absolutely.” However, Graham Nordone said she was also concerned about domestic issues at hand. “I said, ‘But talk about also what matters to the average person. The price of groceries, the price of gas, healthcare. Insurance, those kind of things.’ That’s what I’m worried about.”
During her conversation with Sean Hannity, Graham Nordone reflected on losing Lindsey Graham, and said, “It’s been tough, extremely tough.” She then added, “He was everything, he was my rock. He was my brother, my mother, and my father.”
Lindsey Graham passed away on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at the age of 71. His cause of death has been identified as an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Despite her initial hesitance, Graham Nordone revealed in the interview with Hannity that she has decided to run for the full six-year term, despite being appointed temporarily to fill her brother’s Senate term until January 2027 by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on July 13. “I’ve made a decision. I’m in,” she said.
Previously, President Donald Trump had publicly supported Graham Nordone and even urged her to run for a full term, despite lacking the political experience.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump described her as a “spectacular person, and a true American Patriot,” and pushed her “for the Good of our Nation, to run for the U.S. Senate in the Special Republican Primary on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.”
Trump, 80, said that “there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey,” and pledged his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”
According to CNN, Graham Nordone said that she felt “tremendous amount of pressure” to decide quickly on whether she wanted to run the full term or not while the filing deadline approached quickly. She said, “I’ve been praying a lot, talking to my family, but with the love of my family, with the support of his staff, I know I’m a hard worker; I learned that from Lindsey.”
Previously, she took to X and said that while her late brother “accomplished so much,” she wanted to do things differently.
“Yet I am not Lindsey. I have my own way of doing things,” she wrote. “But we were raised with the same values: work hard each day, trust in the Lord, remember your roots, and never forget who you work for.”
She is the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate.
