Rattled by thin majority, Republicans swear in Lindsey Graham’s sister to Senate

Rattled by a thin majority, Republicans on Tuesday swore in late senator Lindsey Graham's sister, Darline, to the Senate to serve the remainder of his term.

Darline Graham Nordone, 62, has never held public office. She will hold her brother's seat until the expiration of the term in January.

In some US states, such as Graham's South Carolina, the governor may appoint a senator to temporarily fill a vacancy until an election is held. Governor Henry McMaster rubber-stamped President Donald Trump's directive to appoint her. Trump had said that Darline “would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”

With Graham's death, Trump not only lost one of his foremost cheerleaders, but the Republicans' Senate majority was effectively reduced to the bare minimum of 51 seats in the 100-member chamber. If even one Republican senator broke rank, Vice President JD Vance would need to intervene with a tie-breaking vote, but even that would not save Trump if multiple Republicans were to do so. A loyalist succeeding Graham was a must for Trump.

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Republican Senator Chuck Grassley administered the oath of office to Darline. She said she believed "this is what Lindsey would have wanted and I plan to honour him in this way".

"It is such an honour. Lindsey has always been there for me and now I will be there for him," Darline added.

While Darline was born as Graham's sister, she is legally his daughter as he adopted her so she could receive benefits available to service members' children. Graham served in the US Air Force for seven years.

Coincidentally, Darline has become the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate. But her tenure as a placeholder may be largely ceremonial as a special election is scheduled for August 11 to replace Graham, and it is not certain whether Trump would back her as her brother's preferred full-time successor.

Graham died last week from an aortic dissection, a tear in the main artery carrying blood from the heart. He was 71.

While Graham was a mainstream Republican for decades who maintained relationships across the aisle, including with former President Joe Biden, and viciously opposed Trump during the 2016 election campaign, he later flipped for political survival, joined the Maga movement, and emerged as one of Trump's biggest cheerleaders, parroting his far-right agenda on issues ranging from West Asia to insults at President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the White House ambush.