When the US senator Lindsey Graham ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, the lifelong bachelor said that, if he won, his younger sister Darline could be part of a “rotating” cast of first ladies.
It didn’t quite turn out that way. But Darline Graham Nordone has, if anything, gone even further in keeping politics in the family. After Lindsey Graham’s sudden death at the age of 71, Darline has become the first sibling in US history to succeed a deceased senator.
President Donald Trump – himself no stranger to blending family and politics – recommended her to succeed his close ally as a “fabulous tribute” to Lindsey. Darline Graham, as she will be formally known in the Senate – she will drop her married surname – was sworn in last Tuesday as the senator for South Carolina. She will serve out her brother’s term, which expires in January.
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“Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him,” she said on Monday when the succession plan was first announced.
But just who is this 62-year-old woman, who steps into the shoes of one of the most hawkish and influential members of the US Senate, a man who bent Trump’s ear on wars from Iran to Ukraine? Her story is in fact deeply intertwined with her brother’s – a bond forged by tragedy.
Their mother died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1976, and just over a year later their father died of a heart attack, leaving them without parents. She was 13 and he was 22. Lindsey became his sister’s lifelong protector, shuttling back and forth to see her during his early years at college, and becoming her legal guardian so she could receive his benefits from serving in the US Air Force.
He never married or had children. Darline did marry and had two daughters, eventually becoming a public administrator. While she attended several of her brother’s political events and appeared in the occasional campaign video, she had no major political roles. Until now.
And if this nepotistic succession seems unusual, that’s because it is. The US Senate historian’s office says this is the first time a senator has been succeeded by a sibling following their death.
Darline Graham’s elevation is part of an increasing culture of nepotism in US politics, one that is embodied by Donald Trump. The president has always treated the White House as a dynastic system where politics and business are both best kept in the family.
During his first term he named his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner as senior advisers. In his second term, Don Jr and Eric have openly made multiple business deals. Trump himself made more than $1bn from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses in 2025.
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Kushner has returned for round two, acting as a roving envoy on the Middle East and Ukraine wars, while at the same time Washington’s Gulf allies have become the prime investors in Affinity Partners, Kushner’s private equity fund. Trump – who got his leg-up in the real estate business through his own father – has openly proclaimed his family’s right to get rich off his presidency.
Once a bitter critic of Trump, Lindsey Graham became one of his leading advisers on foreign policy. I was in the Oval Office when Graham made his last public appearance there in February, but they met often behind the scenes.
Trump will be counting on Darline Graham to follow the party line in the Senate, and was hosting her in the Oval Office on Thursday.
South Carolina Republicans are meanwhile expected to hold a primary to pick a new nominee, but it’s unclear whether she will run for a full term – and create yet another American political dynasty.
The question now for Trump is how keeping it in the Graham family will work out for him. Republicans are defending an ever-slimmer majority in Congress ahead of November’s crucial midterms. US voters have already started to lose patience with the Trump family. They might not welcome the creation of a second US political dynasty.
Danny Kemp is the White House correspondent for AFP
