Lindsey Graham's sister, Darline Graham Nordone, chosen as replacement
www.bbc.com
The South Carolina governor chose the senator's little sister to serve out the rest of his term after Graham's death on Saturday.

The sister of US Senator Lindsey Graham will serve as his temporary replacement after the South Carolina lawmaker died from an aortic tear on Saturday.

Darline Graham Nordone was formally chosen by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster on Monday, who introduced her as Graham’s “little sister” who would “finish his work for him now”.

“It is such an honour. Lindsey has always been there for me and now I will be there for him,” Nordone said.
The announcement came after officials including President Donald Trump calling for Nordone to serve as his replacement in a “tribute” to the senator, who never married and had no children.

Graham was close with his sister, who he legally adopted after their parents died while they were young.
McMaster said she would serve out the remainder of Graham’s term, which is set to end in 2027.

“Lindsey took care of his little sister,” McMaster said. “It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to finish his work for him now.”

Nordone said she believed “this is what Lindsey would have wanted and I plan to honour him in this way”.

    • MimicJar@lemmy.world
      31·
      24 hours ago

      Now? It’s a common practice. It’s called “Widow’s succession”. In this case it is Lindsey’s sister, but the spirit is the same.

      Usually it is someone to just finish out the current term (not running in the election) or until a special election can take place.

      • brendansimms@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 hour ago

        after reviewing the wikipedia, it seems that there’s usually a special election held - not just an appointment made.

      • Rothe@piefed.socialEnglish
        4·
        14 hours ago

        It is common in some commonwealth countries and in countries where their political system is largely based on the UK and its archaic institutions. So UK, Ireland, US and a bunch of ex-colonies and Japan (who adopted a largely US-inspired constitution after WWII).

        So common practice within a select group of countries. It is pretty bizarre from the viewpoint of someone not from any of those countries.

      • UnrepentantAlgebra@lemmy.world
        163·
        20 hours ago

        Hmm “widow’s succession” but Graham never married, this is Graham’s sister, and they live in the deep south. This would raise a lot more questions if Graham wasn’t openly secretly gay.

        • MimicJar@lemmy.world
          3·
          17 hours ago

          I mean Graham and his sister have a tragic backstory, so I don’t think it would raise many questions.

          As best I can tell this is the first case of a sibling taking over. There are also fewer recent examples than I thought. I assumed a “window succession” was fairly standard, but it seems it’s been 25+ years since it happened last (in the US Senate).

          • UnrepentantAlgebra@lemmy.world
            3·
            16 hours ago

            Ok yeah, that one’s on me, I probably should have read the Wikipedia article a bit more before making my comment.

            But the succession thing is weird and this is the first I’ve heard of it. Sounds like it might only be temporary? Who knows these days.

            • MimicJar@lemmy.world
              2·
              12 hours ago

              It’s usually temporary “until the next election”. Some states allow that next election to be the regularly scheduled one (and the term in the Senate is 6 years, so that could be a while), or some states require a special election within X number of days. (And some states don’t allow it at all.)

              In this case Lindsey Graham’s next election is this November, having just won the primary. But I think there is still time for the Republicans to decide on a different candidate.

              So, chances are, Graham’s sister will be in place through the election in November, and then the term ends in January.