THE UNKNOWN DARLINE GRAHAM. South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster took very little time to choose Darline Graham, the sister of Sen. Lindsey Graham, to serve the last few months of the late senator’s term.
“Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed,” McMaster said in an announcement ceremony less than 48 hours after Graham’s death. “It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darline Graham, to finish his work for him now.”
Graham thanked McMaster for giving her the opportunity to serve “the remainder of Lindsey’s term.” She said, “It is such a privilege to get to finish some of his important work, and I promise to work hard over the next several months to support the president and carry forward the efforts of my brother on behalf of the citizens of South Carolina.”
The entire event was premised on the assumption that Darline Graham was being selected to serve as a caretaker for the last six months of her brother’s term. Nobody said a word about Graham becoming the next full-term senator from South Carolina. Indeed, it was widely thought that Darline Graham was entering the Senate with no ambitions beyond serving out her brother’s time in office. After six months as guardian of the Lindsey Graham legacy, she would become former Sen. Darline Graham.
McMaster’s choice seemed wise because first, it was done in the emotional aftermath of Lindsey Graham’s death and seemed to fit the moment, and second, it was a smart way to set the stage for the coming campaign to fill the Senate seat for a six-year term.
Smart in this way. If McMaster had chosen someone with ambitions to become the next full-term senator, that person would have been given an enormous advantage in the form of the temporary appointment. He or she could then run for the full term from the position of already being the senator from South Carolina. From many observers’ point of view, it was better to choose a caretaker for the next six months who would not spend that time running for office.
So that’s the way it seemed. But then the story changed. President Donald Trump caught some by surprise when he said he’d like to see Darline Graham run for the full-term office. A lot of talk ensued. Finally, Graham herself confirmed the talk — she was jumping in the race and would run in the special primary coming up in August.
“It’s official,” Graham posted on X. “I’m stepping forward to carry my brother Lindsey’s legacy on behalf of the people of South Carolina. … President Trump told me, ‘Run, Darline, Run.’ With his support, I’m running all the way through the finish line in November.”
It was all very exciting, but then people began to ask: What do we really know about Darline Graham? Yes, she was Lindsey Graham’s beloved sister, but what are her positions on the zillions of issues and questions she would face as a U.S. senator? What kind of senator would she be?
Graham gave an initial hint when she discussed her brother in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity. “I used to see him on the talk shows,” she said. “I would watch him, and I’d be like, ‘Lindsey, are you just talking about national security all the time?’ And I understand that’s important. Protecting our borders, national security, absolutely. I said, ‘But talk about also what matters to the average person. The price of groceries, the price of gas, healthcare, insurance, those kind of things.’ That’s what I’m worried about.”
With that brief statement, interim Sen. Darline Graham made clear she would be a much different lawmaker from Sen. Lindsey Graham. If you liked the Lindsey Graham who was always traveling to the world’s hot spots (he had just returned from Ukraine when he died), then Darline Graham might take a little getting used to. On the other hand, if you wanted to hear more about the price of groceries and healthcare — which are, after all, at or near the top of voter concerns — you might like her better than her brother. The important part here is that Darline Graham’s views on so many issues, as well as her qualifications to serve in the Senate, are just not known.
Darline Graham earned a B.S. from the College of Charleston in 1989 and an M.A. in rehabilitation counseling 20 years later from South Carolina State University. She worked for more than 10 years at the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department. In 2019, she became head of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind. Over the years, she also served on the boards of various state agencies.
She got a sense of the inner working of politics from her brother’s career in the way that people who are close to someone in politics get to see things from the inside. But she has never been elected to anything. By contrast, her brother had been elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives once and to the U.S. House of Representatives five times before winning election to the Senate.
It is hard to see how the special Republican primary race that Darline Graham is now entering will play out. Basically, there are three players in addition to Graham — two members of the House, Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Russell Fry (R-SC), and Mark Lynch, a businessman who ran a very rough and unsuccessful challenge to Lindsey Graham in the June GOP primary.
The sides are set, but it seems unlikely there will be any serious politicking before Graham’s two-day funeral next Tuesday and Wednesday. After that, there will be less than two weeks before the special primary on Aug. 11.
Would, say, Norman or Fry hit Darline Graham hard on this or that issue? It is frankly difficult to envision that happening. Yes, she is running for high office, but she is also the grieving sister whose brother’s stunning death was just weeks in the past. Norman, Fry, and Lynch will all be in a very difficult position.
On the other hand, there’s still this question. Darline Graham, for all the goodwill directed toward her, remains mostly unknown when it comes to what she might do as a member of the U.S. Senate. An adversarial campaign is still the best way for voters to learn about a candidate. It seems unlikely that will happen this summer in South Carolina. So if that is the case, how will voters learn enough to make the best possible decision?