Who is Darline Graham Nordone? Lindsey Graham’s sister emerges as Trump’s Senate pick

Tragedy built a strong bond between Darline Graham Nordone and her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Tragedy is once again striking its bell, this time with the sudden passing of her brother and father figure. And now, she’s being considered to replace him in the Senate, just over 24 hours after his death.

President Donald Trump and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., both want her in the role, and sources have told Fox News that Scott has been speaking with her about filling in for the remainder of Graham’s term.

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Trump is pushing South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to appoint her, announcing that he recommended the governor tap Graham’s “wonderful sister” to serve out his term as a caretaker.

“This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly,” Trump said on Truth Social.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told CNN that he had spoken with Nordone and McMaster on Sunday, and that tapping Graham’s sister “certainly, in my view, makes a lot of sense.” 

“I think, in many respects, it would be a way of extending Lindsey’s legacy here, and certainly something that, if that’s what they decide to end up doing, I think there’d be a lot of support for,” Thune said.

McMaster is slated to announce his pick Monday afternoon in a news conference that Scott is also expected to attend.

If he does tap Nordone, it would be a temporary selection. In the background, private jockeying is already happening to succeed Graham as the GOP nominee in the Palmetto State.

The filing deadline to succeed Graham and run for a full six-year Senate term opens July 21 and a special election primary is scheduled for Aug. 11. Many South Carolina politicians have expressed interest in the job, seeing the vacant Senate seat as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to serve in the upper chamber.

Meanwhile, Nordone has never held public office, unlike her brother, who served in Congress for three decades in both the House and Senate. Nordone is a mother of two and worked in a vocational rehabilitation role that specifically helped people with disabilities find employment in South Carolina.

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And whether she’s ready to accept the position remains unclear.

“Actually, I’m just kind of like devastated right now,” Nordone told the New York Post shortly after Trump’s announcement.

Nordone and Graham shared a unique bond, too. Graham was in his early 20s when both their parents died within less than a year of one another. That tragedy pushed him to become her primary legal guardian and caretaker, thrusting him into the role of father and brother to his younger sister.

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

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Nordone highlighted the outsized role Graham played in raising her after the death of their parents. After becoming her legal guardian, he enlisted in the Air Force to allow her to qualify for his military benefits. She later credited him with ensuring that she completed high school and college.

“He’s kind of like a brother, a father and a mother rolled into one,” she told The New York Times in an interview in 2015.

Nordone was a frequent presence in Graham’s campaigns during his decades-long career.

“My parents, they were loving people and cared about us, but Lindsey was always the one that took care of me and helped me with my homework,” she said in a campaign spot titled “Darline.” “If I was sick, he gave me my medicine. He taught me how to ride a bicycle.”

“He never let me down,” she continued. “To take on that responsibility of raising a little sister — that came from within for Lindsey.”