{"id":89736,"date":"2026-07-13T12:53:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/trump-unveils-candidate-to-fill-lindsey-grahams-shoes\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:53:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:53:00","slug":"trump-unveils-candidate-to-fill-lindsey-grahams-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/trump-unveils-candidate-to-fill-lindsey-grahams-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump unveils candidate to fill Lindsey Graham’s shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT<\/a> <\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n

Published:<\/span>

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President Donald Trump wants late Senator Lindsey Graham’s sister to fill the vacant seat left behind after the South Carolina lawmaker’s sudden passing. ‘I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Grahams wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina,’ the President wrote on social media. ‘This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!’ Darline Graham Nordone, the late Senator’s younger sister, has never served in public office. The South Carolina Governor is expected to speak Monday afternoon about the late Senator and the vacancy in Congress left by his passing. McMaster is allowed to appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of Graham’s term, which ends on January 3, 2027. The Governor may decide to appoint a ‘caretaker’ to the role who will not run for the seat in the midterms later this year. It is unclear whether Darline’s appointment would be a ‘caretaker’ selection or if she would formally announce a run for his seat in a special primary election. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Special Primary Election Dates Set<\/h2>\n
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Graham’s death kicks off a one-week registration period for a special primary election so that a new candidate can swiftly fill the vacancy, according to South Carolina law. The special primary election registration is slated to begin July 21, and the election would be held two Tuesdays later, on August 11. If there is a runoff for the special primary election, it would follow two weeks later on August 25. The winner of the special primary election would go on to face Democratic candidate Annie Andrews in the November race. Already there is speculation about which South Carolina politicians may hop into the special primary election.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Lieutenant Governor Pamella Everette, Fox News host and former Congressman Trey Gowdy, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, Congressman Ralph Norman and more have been mentioned as possible candidates. Lindsey and Darline Graham were incredibly close, and after the siblings’ parents died 15 months apart in the 1970s, the Senator, then 21, legally adopted his teenage sister and helped raise her. The Senator never married or had children but noted that he did have a family, namely his younger sister. The pair were raised in Central, South Carolina, near Clemson University.Their parents operated a bar and pool hall.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Graham Adopted His Younger Sister<\/h2>\n
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The young Graham siblings lived in a room in the back of the establishment. ‘Hes kind of like a brother, a father and a mother rolled into one,’ Darline told the New York Times in 2015. The Senator kept close tabs on his younger sister as the two grew up without their parents. The Republican’s law school friends told NPR that Lindsey would visit his sister on weekends and would inquire about if she was keeping curfew and who she was spending time with. After joining the Air Force as a military lawyer, he adopted Darline, ensuring that if anything happened to him that his benefits would flow to her.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/ad-slot> <\/ad-slot> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT Published: 11:53 EDT, 13 July 2026 | Updated: 11:53 EDT, 13 July 2026 President Donald Trump wants late Senator Lindsey Graham’s sister to fill the vacant seat left behind after the South Carolina lawmaker’s sudden passing. ‘I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Grahams wonderful sister, Darline, to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}