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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina governor Henry McMaster is poised to appoint the late Lindsey Graham‘s sister as his interim replacement in the United States Senate – meaning she would serve as the Palmetto State’s first female U.S. senator over the next six months.
Sources familiar with McMaster’s thinking say he will appoint Darline Graham Nordone to the seat her brother held from January 2003 until late Saturday evening (July 11, 2026) – when he died suddenly of an “aortic dissection” at his residence in Washington, D.C.
Graham’s death – which is under investigation – has sparked a flurry of political machinating in his home state, as the question of who would succeed him (both now and at the conclusion of his current term) has hung in the air ever since the shocking news began to break in wide circulation early Sunday morning.
McMaster is set to answer the first part of that question at 4:00 p.m. EDT on Monday (July 13, 2026) at a press conference in the South Carolina State House. His choice was preempted, however, by a Truth Social post from U.S. president Donald Trump.
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“I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina,” Trump wrote on Monday morning. “This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”
Nordone, 62, of Lexington, S.C., has been a key member of her brother’s “kitchen cabinet” for many years. Her potential selection as an interim replacement for Graham was first raised by FITSNews on Sunday.
The appointment of Nordone applies solely to the unexpired portion of Graham’s fourth, six-year term in the Senate – meaning she will fill his seat through January 3, 2027. Beyond that, a special primary election is currently in the works to determine who will represent the Republican Party on the ballot this November.
At the time of his death, Graham was the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate seat he held – and was scheduled to face Democrat Annie Andrews, Libertarian Kasie Whitener, Constitution Party candidate Mark Hackett and several other independent candidates in the November 3, 2026 general election.
Now, Republicans will hold a special election on August 11, 2026 to choose a new nominee – with several high-profile contenders already signaling their intention to run. The winner of that race will have the inside track to become the state’s next senator – as no Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in the Palmetto State since the late Fritz Hollings in 1998.
This is a developing story… please check back for updates.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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6 comments
What a freaking joke. So Congressional seats are passed down to survivors like money?
His repeated re-election was also a joke…he spent more time in Israel, DC & Ukraine than in SC.
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”-Mencken
The original democracy used “sortition” and I’d wager if we went back to it we’d get better results.
While I’m not crazy about this, there is historical precedent for this [surviving spouse/adult child/family member completing a tail end of a congressional term]. The bigger question is whether she is just going to finish it out and come back home or if she wants to run for the next term as well. I guess we will know the answer to that question in the days to come.
This has got to be killing Joe Wilson; rising through the ranks as a state legislator to congressman, and then from a congress Rep to succeeding a dying or retiring senator is the old-school “paying your dues” tradition that has been largely observed in this state. He can’t do it because the majority in the House is too razor- thin. Alan is locked in to become Governor – but anyone with a political brain knows being a US Senator from SC holds far more power and influence than being governor in SC. Prolly killin’ him too.
Well done.
Mrs. Nordone shares half her brother’s genes and probably much of his environmental risk factors for coronary artery disease.
So, she and her staff should resist the knee jerk reflex to dismiss this as if it were about me, as is everything I, God willing and FITS permitting, post on this outlet.
It is NEVER about me as me.
It is about my self-assigned efforts to spread science, preventive thinking, and real justice, and my courageous zeal to expose hypocrisy in politics, courts, and even Medicine.
My efforts are payments of debts, not to this country, but to God for the unique intellect He gave me, to my parents for the exquisite upbringing they gave me, and to my teachers in/from three continents.
But to some, it is more important to insult and discredit Dr. Marie Faltas than to take even literal life-saving ideas from her.
Get to the point, Marie, get to the point!
The point is: EVERY middle aged and older person with a medical and/or family history of, and/or risk factors for, coronary artery disease MUST get a prescription for sublingual nitroglycerine prn and ALWAYS, I mean always, carry on their person a vial of unexpired, undegraded-by-light-or-heat, NITROGLYCERINE SL “tabletitules” (they ARE tiny) when out doors. For home, every such person MUST, I mean must, have a vial in an unlit, non-humid, corner of every room, and outside every kitchen and bathroom because these rooms are inevitably warm and humid.
And every such person should learn his/her own harbingers of imminent coronary artery problems AND the discipline of not using sublingual nitroglycerine willy-nilly or else it loses its efficacy.
Nitroglycerine, sublingual or otherwise, would NOT have prevented Senator Graham’s aortic dissection IF that was the true cause of his death. BUT it COULD HAVE given him more time for until EMS’ arrival IF it was a coronary artery disease of the native arteries in the native heart like that which took the life of the senator’s father. (“Native” here means the one born with, not transplanted; it does NOT mean “Native American,” although, of course, this advice is good for every race.)
Trump told Foghorn to jump and Foghorn said “Yes I said yes sir, how high sir!”