Sen. Darline Graham announced that she will run for her late brother’s seat this November, after being appointed last week to serve out the rest of Lindsey Graham’s term.
“I’ve made a decision. I’m in,” she said in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
Graham acknowledged the “tremendous amount of pressure” she’s felt to make up her mind quickly, with a filing deadline looming and President Donald Trump posting on Truth Social that he would like her to run for the seat.
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“I’ve been praying a lot, talking to my family, but with the love of my family, with the support of his staff — I know I’m a hard worker, I learned that from Lindsey,” she added. “He cared about the people of this state. I’ve worked for almost 30 years for the people of this state. I feel like I can do it. I feel an inner peace about it. Will it be difficult? Yes, absolutely.”
Graham is the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate. She was appointed to the seat by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to serve until January 2027. A special primary election will take place August 11 to determine who will next hold the seat for the upcoming six-year term.
Multiple influential South Carolina Republicans told CNN the initial reports last week that Darline Graham planned to seek a full Senate term came as a surprise, as it was understood by them she would only complete the remainder of Lindsey Graham’s term.
A source with knowledge of the matter said that at the time McMaster appointed her to serve the remainder of her late brother’s current term, he was not under the impression Darline Graham would run as a candidate in the special primary election for a full term.
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Graham, 62, has not previously held elected office. After she and Lindsey Graham’s parents died within 15 months of each other, she became orphaned at age 13 in 1976. Lindsey Graham — the first in his family to attend college, and a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps — became his sister’s legal guardian.
Lindsey Graham, a longtime Republican from South Carolina and ally of President Donald Trump, died following an aortic dissection, according to a preliminary finding from the Washington, DC, medical examiner. He was 71.
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