Newly appointed Senator Darline Graham Nordone has decided to run for a six year Senate term in this year’s mid-terms because she wants the full Congressional grift. We are not Demoncrats Democrats, and we don’t need to go down this route for losers. Let’s protect ourselves from nepotism.

My heart goes out to Senator Graham Nordone. She has had a lot of tragedy in her life. She has handled the last two weeks with absolute grace. The loss of her beloved brother, Lindsey, was a horrible shock and she has handled it with a beautiful grace. When her name was floated to fulfill the last six months of her brother’s current Senate term, we were elated. Our Nina wrote “Lindsey Graham’s Sister Darline Will Serve Remainder Of His Term”; she called the choice “interesting and brilliant”. So accurate.

–BUT–

After talking with her family and praying, Mrs. Nordone will throw her hat into the ring and run for her first elected office on the heels of this latest family tragedy. I am not a “good” Christian so you can color me skeptical anytime a politician talks about praying on something in his/her own self-interest. Cardinal Pritchard of “Not the Bee” posted:

Lindsey Graham’s sister, who took over his Senate seat after he sadly passed away on July 11, is now saying she will be running for the full term.

Days after getting sworn in to finish out the remainder of her late brother’s term, Darline Graham announced she’s all in for a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate.

Lindsey Graham held the seat for two decades, and always put South Carolina and America first over everything, so again, this is great.

From CBS News:

Sen. Darline Graham, who is serving out the remainder of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s term in the Senate, said Monday that she will seek a full term for the South Carolina seat her brother held for more than two decades.

‘I’ve made a decision,’ Graham told Fox News. ‘I’m in.’

Darline, 62, had a career in disabilities services and served as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind. She was sworn in last week after Gov. Henry McMaster tapped her, saying it’s “what Lindsey would have wanted.”

And if it’s what Lindsey would have wanted, it’s definitely what’s best for South Carolina, as he was always known to put South Carolina first.

Perfectly said. Lindsey is dead, he was not canonized. He was not perfect and I cursed his name many a day. I don’t believe his sister should participate in the Republican Primary. She has a very thin resume. Nepotism is despicable.

What qualifications does Darline Graham have?

“I feel like I can do it. I feel an inner peace about it.”

🙄

Say no to nepotism and entitlement, South Carolina. https://t.co/e2L7YDDoWq

— Jenna Ellis 🐊 (@realJennaEllis) July 21, 2026

Mrs. Nordone had a lovely career. Her resume is thin. Nepotism is not DEI. Nepotism is the death of a culture. From Inside Elections, here is a list of nepotism in the Senate:

The U.S. House of Representatives is filled with members whose family connections bolstered their congressional careers — but the more august Senate isn’t immune either.

Earlier this month, Inside Elections explored the family political ties boasted by many members of the House. Taking inspiration from a New York magazine cover story on the “nepo babies” of Hollywood, we covered the 11 sitting members of the House who followed their parents to Congress, and the dozens more who succeeded their parents in state politics or otherwise had a connection to politics before they arrived on Capitol Hill.

The smaller Senate provides fewer examples of the direct lineal succession that persists in the House. And unlike in the House, where a number of women hold seats previously won by their deceased husbands, the Senate has not seen an example of “widow’s succession” since Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan two decades ago.

That said, the upper chamber still houses its share of political families.

snip–

Lisa Murkowski, the senior senator from Alaska, is the daughter of former Sen. Frank Murkowski, who represented the Last Frontier from 1981 to 2002. The younger Murkowski has long faced accusations of nepotism owing to the circumstances of her arrival in the Senate: she was appointed by her father to fill his own seat after his election as governor in 2002.

snip–

West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito is the daughter of Arch Moore, who represented West Virginia in the House from 1957 to 1969 but is better known as the state’s longest-serving governor. Moore also narrowly lost a Senate race to incumbent Democrat Jennings Randolph in 1978, and in the 1990s served prison time for federal corruption charges. Capito entered politics in 1996 as a state representative; she was later elected to the U.S. House in 2000, and to the Senate in 2014, winning the seat her father had run for 36 years prior.

snip–

A number of other senators have deep ties to their state’s local politics, or family members who also entered public service.

Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan was born into a successful manufacturing family but married into a politically connected Alaskan Native family; his father-in-law Bud Fate was a state representative and president of the University of Alaska Board of Regents, while his mother-in-law Mary Jane Fate was the chairwoman of the Alaska Federation of Natives.

In Arkansas, Republican John Boozman holds the seat that his older brother, Fay Boozman, failed to win as a state senator in 1998.

Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper’s grandfather, Smith Hickenlooper, was a federal circuit court judge, and his great-uncle, Bourke Hickenlooper, represented Iowa in the Senate from 1945 to 1969. His great-grandfather Andrew Hickenlooper was the lieutenant governor of Iowa.

Idaho Republican Mike Crapo followed his brother, Terry, into state politics. Terry Crapo was the majority leader of the state House from 1968-1972; Mike Crapo entered politics following Terry’s death in 1982.

Indiana Republican Mike Braun’s older brother, Steve Braun, served in the state House from 2012-2014.

Both of Maine Republican Susan Collins’s parents served as mayor of Caribou, Maine, and her father also served in both houses of the state legislature. Her uncle, Samuel Collins, was a state senator and state Supreme Court justice. Her great-great-aunt, Florence Collins Porter, was a delegate to the Republican conventions in 1912 and 1924.

Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin’s father, Meyer Cardin, and uncle Maurice Cardin both served in the Maryland House of Delegates. Ben Cardin’s nephew, Jon Cardin, currently serves in the state House.

In Nevada, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto’s father Manny Cortez was a Clark County commissioner for 15 years and had a close relationship with Harry Reid, the Democratic senator who Cortez Masto succeeded in 2016 with the help of Reid’s political machine.

New Mexico Democrat Ben Ray Luján’s father, Ben Luján, was a longtime member of the state House, rising to be speaker of the House from 2001 to 2012.

New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand’s grandmother, Polly Noonan, was a Democratic party boss in the mid-20th century, rising to be vice chairwoman of the Democratic State Committee.

North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis’s brother was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2016-2020.

Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown is the younger brother of former West Virginia attorney general Charlie Brown.

And, many more… It’s flat corruption.

There is still the Primary for Darline Graham to get through and it is a crowded field:

Ugh! So long, farewell to Nancy Mace.

Here is more from Politico:

“Even folks that didn’t like Senator [Lindsey] Graham or didn’t vote for him in the primary were pretty happy about the appointment, as a tribute to Senator Graham,” said CJ Westfall, chair of the Dorchester County GOP. “But once we saw the president jump in and support her, 95 percent are saying, ‘What the hell are we doing here? We don’t know how she votes. We don’t know what she believes.’”

“People that were excited about the appointment are now skeptical of the endorsement,” Westfall said.

Rep. Russell Fry, one of Trump’s most loyal congressional allies, announced earlier Monday he was jumping in. He joins Rep. Ralph Norman, who declared his own candidacy over the weekend, along with self-funding businessman Mark Lynch, who lost to the former senator in the primary. A number of other Republicans are mulling runs as well, including former Gov. Mark Sanford and Lt. Gov Pam Evette, who lost her own bid for governor a few weeks ago in spite of Trump’s endorsement.

Think deeply about this. It’s not in the nature of a strong Republic to countenance nepotism. This wrongly wrong. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Featured Image: Sen. Tim Scott/Wikimedia Commons.org/cropped/Public Domain