Lindsey Graham’s sister is carrying on the senator’s political (and Trump-style) legacy

Following the death of the Conservative senator Lindsey Graham, his sister Darline’s life has changed rapidly. She was initially chosen to serve out her brother’s term, which expires this year, and subsequently, with President Trump’s support, she decided to stand for a full term.

The push to appoint her to the seat on an interim basis came from the Governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, who persuaded Trump. The President had initially been inclined to give the seat to MP Russell Fry, a staunch Trump supporter who had won his seat by defeating one of the ten Republican MPs who had voted in favour of impeaching Trump over the events of 6 January 2021. Such a choice would have created a problem in the House: promoting the MP would have left the Republicans one member short until the next by-election, with an already precarious majority. Graham met with Trump, Vice-President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House: there, she first agreed to stand in for her brother for the remainder of his term and then expressed her intention to stand for election – not, she said, out of personal ambition but to honour his memory. A decision to which Trump reportedly agreed immediately.

The Grahams were very close. Their lives changed in the late 1970s, when, within the space of fifteen months, they lost both their mother, to Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and their father, to a heart attack. Darline was a minor at the time and Lindsey became her legal guardian. Lindsey never married and never had children: he often joked that, if he ever became president, he would take Darline to the White House as First Lady.

The point is that very little is known about Darline’s political views. She is said to be very active in projects supporting people with disabilities, to be religious, married and very family-oriented. So far, she has given just one interview, to Fox News: there, she admitted to having repeatedly encouraged her brother to speak more often about issues of concern to ordinary people, such as the cost of basic necessities and petrol. Perhaps, therefore, we will see her take a more active role in domestic politics and a less active one in foreign affairs. As soon as she stood as a candidate, however, she received the backing of the Republican Jewish Coalition, partly due to her brother’s close ties to Israel. She attended a dinner in honour of Lindsey, which was also attended by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter.

To reinforce her image as a candidate loyal to the president, Graham announced that the first bill she would seek to pass would be the Save America Act, the controversial bill championed by Trump that would require voters to provide proof of citizenship in order to vote, and which currently lacks the necessary support to pass in the Senate. She then had to defend herself against accusations that she was not sufficiently opposed to abortion: the Daily Beast website discovered that the only political donation traceable to Graham was $100 to the then state senator Katrina Shealy, who was campaigning against a total ban on abortion in South Carolina. Darline defended herself by reaffirming her opposition to abortion and promising to protect “the sanctity of human life at every stage”.

Not all Republicans are convinced that this move will be successful, and not just because her ideas are unfamiliar to most people. In recent times, in fact, Lindsey’s international profile – which saw two heads of state, Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Zelensky, attend his funeral – was not at all appreciated by the conservative base in his state. In the recent primary, in fact, despite having the support of the entire leadership, including Trump, he failed to reach 60 per cent of the vote. Furthermore, his entry into the race has not deterred the other candidates: there are many vying for that seat, and all describe themselves as supporters of the president, in a paradoxical contest between ‘MAGA warriors’ who have not secured Trump’s endorsement. The senators themselves have not chosen a single candidate: their leader, John Thune, has made it clear that he will stay out of the race, whilst Senators Rick Scott and Mike Lee – now colleagues of Darline Graham – have stated that they will back Representative Ralph Norman in the primary to be held on 11 August.