Darline Graham advances to runoff, vows to carry on brother Lindsey’s fight in US Senate

Darline Graham Nordone thanked President Donald Trump and invoked the memory of her late brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, as she addressed supporters Tuesday night after advancing to the runoff in South Carolina’s Republican Senate primary. Speaking exactly one month after her brother’s death, Graham described the past several weeks as “absolutely brutal,” as she simultaneously mourned Lindsey Graham, assumed his seat in the U.S. Senate, and launched her first campaign for elected office.

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I want to thank President Trump. His steadfast support and his complete and total endorsement means so much to me. He knows that I will stand with him and fight for his agenda, just like Lindsey did.

"I want to thank President Trump,” Graham told supporters. “His steadfast support and his complete and total endorsement means so much to me. He knows that I will stand with him and fight for his agenda, just like Lindsey did.” Graham said she hoped Trump would travel to South Carolina to campaign for her during the two weeks leading up to the runoff, though she said no such appearance had yet been confirmed.

Graham, who was appointed to fill her brother’s Senate seat following his death, sought Tuesday night to portray herself simultaneously as the guardian of Lindsey Graham’s legacy and as a political outsider with an identity of her own. “I’m a conservative Republican. I’m not a career politician,” she said. “I know how families are struggling to make ends meet because I’ve been there too.”

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I’m hopeful that President Trump will come down, but we’ll see.

Graham repeatedly returned to the story of her childhood with her brother, recalling that the two grew up in a room behind the bar and liquor store operated by their parents. “That’s where we learned a strong work ethic and the value of $1,” she said. “From a young age, our parents taught us that you’re not given anything in life, and no one owes you anything. If you want something, you work for it.” Before entering the Senate, Graham said she spent seven years leading a South Carolina agency that assists blind and visually impaired residents in finding employment and becoming more independent. “I never expected that career of service would lead me to the United States Senate,” she said. “I certainly never expected it would happen under these circumstances.”

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I’m a conservative Republican. I’m not a career politician. I know how families are struggling to make ends meet because I’ve been there too.

Graham touted what she described as an unusually productive first three weeks in Washington, saying she had already helped pass a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that was particularly important to her brother. She also highlighted her role as the deciding vote to confirm Trump’s attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche.

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That’s where we learned a strong work ethic and the value of $1. From a young age, our parents taught us that you’re not given anything in life, and no one owes you anything. If you want something, you work for it.