Trump backs Darline Graham Nordone for South Carolina Senate seat
The president urged the newly appointed senator to seek a full term after Lindsey Graham’s death opened a special Republican primary.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
3 min read
President Donald Trump is putting his weight behind Sen. Darline Graham Nordone in the fast-moving fight to fill her late brother Lindsey Graham’s South Carolina Senate seat for a full term.
Trump endorsed Graham Nordone, a South Carolina Republican, in a Truth Social post Friday, saying he had asked her to enter the special Republican primary set for Aug. 11.
“I asked Darline, for the Good of our Nation, to run for the U.S. Senate in the Special Republican Primary on Tuesday, August 11, 2026,” Trump wrote. “I hope Darline does this, in that there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey.”
Trump added in the same post that Graham Nordone had his “complete and total endorsement.”
Graham Nordone was appointed earlier this week by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, to serve the remainder of Lindsey Graham’s term, which runs into early January. She was sworn in Tuesday and became South Carolina’s first female senator.
The appointment followed Graham’s sudden death on Saturday night, which created a Senate vacancy and forced state Republicans into a quick search for a candidate. Graham had already won the state’s Republican Senate primary in June, according to NBC News, and had been positioned to seek a fifth term in November.
South Carolina law allows Republican hopefuls seeking to replace Graham on the ballot to begin filing on July 21. The special GOP primary is scheduled for Aug. 11.
Graham Nordone’s connection to the seat is intensely personal. She and Lindsey Graham had spoken publicly about their close bond, including his decision to adopt her when she was 13 after the deaths of both of their parents.
“I don’t know what I would have done without him,” Graham Nordone told Fox News in a joint interview with her brother in 2015.
Her possible run quickly drew notice from another major South Carolina Republican. Sen. Tim Scott said Wednesday that Graham Nordone was “off to a remarkable start” in the Senate, according to NBC News. Asked whether she might seek a full term, Scott replied, “Why not her?”
Other South Carolina Republicans had also been mentioned as possible contenders after Graham’s death, including Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Rep. Nancy Mace, NBC News reported.
Businessman Mark Lynch, who challenged Graham in the June Republican primary and lost, said Monday that he planned to restart his Senate campaign following Graham’s death, according to WYFF.
Trump’s endorsement gives Graham Nordone a powerful boost before the filing window opens. The contest will determine who carries the Republican banner in a state where Graham had already secured the nomination before his death upended the race.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.