Darline Graham Nordone is officially the newest senator in Washington, taking over for her brother, former Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly over the weekend.
Nordone was sworn into the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, and she will hold the seat through the rest of Graham’s term that expires in January. Her swearing-in comes just days after her brother’s death, and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster requested she finish out her late brother’s term.
Nordone will serve in a caretaker capacity, meaning she won’t run for the full six-year term that begins next year. South Carolina is set to hold a special primary election to choose a new Republican nominee to replace Graham, who was expected to win reelection.
McMaster said he spoke with Nordone on Sunday when he asked her to finish out the Senate term, and the governor later made the suggestion to President Donald Trump when she agreed.
Trump publicly recommended her to the position in a social media post on Monday. Several top Republicans in the Senate supported that decision, calling her an excellent choice.
Nordone has never served as an elected official before — but she has spent some time in the national spotlight as her brother ran for president in 2016 and cemented himself as a well-known figure on Capitol Hill.
In 1976, the siblings’ mother died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Fifteen months later, their father died of a heart attack. Graham, who was 22 at the time, decided he would become his then-13-year-old sister’s legal guardian and raise her while attending college. Nordone moved in with her aunt and uncle, and Graham would travel back from the University of South Carolina to care for her on the weekends.
Their bond became known nationally when Graham ran for president in 2016 as she appeared alongside him on the campaign trail. At one point, Graham, who never married or had children, joked that his sister could fulfill the role of first lady if he were elected to the White House.
Nordone, now 64, is a mother of two and has worked to help people with disabilities find jobs in South Carolina.
It’s not yet clear how involved Nordone will be in her short stint in the Senate. Graham held a number of positions on key committees in the Senate, although those are set to be filled by other sitting senators based on seniority and interest.
The D.C. medical examiner’s office released a preliminary report on Sunday revealing Graham’s cause of death, showing he suffered from an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. That dissection resulted in a tear in the body’s main artery, which typically occurs when there is high blood pressure.
Additional toxicological and microscopic tests are still being finalized, according to the report.
