Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of the late United States senator Lindsey Graham, has announced she will run for his South Carolina seat in the US Senate at the November election. She confirmed her candidacy in an interview with Fox News, days after President Donald Trump publicly urged her to stand.
“I’ve made a decision. I’m in,” she told the broadcaster. She said she had reached the decision after praying and consulting her family, describing a sense of inner peace about succeeding her brother despite the pressure involved.
Nordone, 62, was appointed by South Carolina governor Henry McMaster to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term, which ends in January 2027. She was sworn in on July 14, becoming the first woman to represent the state in the US Senate.
She has never held elected office. Nordone spent close to three decades in state government, serving since 2019 as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and previously holding posts at Clemson University and two state agencies.
Lindsey Graham died on July 11 at the age of 71, hours after returning from a visit to Kyiv. His office attributed his death to a brief and sudden illness, later identified in a preliminary medical report as an aortic dissection.
Nordone has signalled a shift away from her brother’s foreign-policy priorities, saying she would focus on domestic concerns such as grocery prices, fuel costs and health care. Lindsey Graham had been one of the Senate’s most vocal advocates of military support for Ukraine and Israel.
Her candidacy sets up a contested Republican primary scheduled for August 11, with candidates able to file from July 21 to 28. The field already includes the South Carolina congressmen Russell Fry and Ralph Norman along with businessman Mark Lynch.
The compressed contest comes barely a month before the vote, an unusually rushed timetable for a Senate seat. Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who had weighed a bid, said she would not enter the race.
Trump had encouraged Nordone to run, promising his “complete and total endorsement” should she enter. The winner of the primary is expected to face Democrat Annie Andrews, who had been challenging Lindsey Graham before his death.
