Lindsey Graham and the history of ‘widow’s succession’

When U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham died unexpectedly at the age of 71, the immediate political question was who might become his replacement. In more than two decades in the Senate, Graham became a powerful force — lionized as a “giant in the Senate” by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse — who served on a wide range of committees and inserted himself into nearly every area of politics.

Graham served, at various times, as Senate Budget Committee chair (2025-2026) and Senate Judiciary Committee chair (2019-2021) and was one of Congress’ most influential voices on judicial nominations, military affairs and foreign policy. Replacing him isn’t just replacing a Republican vote but replacing one of the Senate’s most powerful voices.

Beyond his experience and stature, he also was a Republican vote in a deeply divided Senate. While Republicans enjoy a six-seat advantage over Democrats (53-47), Mitch McConnell’s prolonged and bizarre absence from the Senate effectively moves the needle to 51-47. Given that senators are rarely available for all votes, there is some Republican urgency for Graham’s seat to be filled quickly.

It’s not surprising, then, that President Donald Trump urged South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to appoint an immediate replacement. What is more surprising was his suggestion: Darline Graham Nordone, Graham’s younger sister. McMaster quickly acceded to Trump’s request, and Nordone accepted the appointment, stating “Lindsey has always been there for me and now I will be there for him.”

Graham never married, so his sister is his closest kin.

At first glance, this feels a bit odd. Nordone has no political experience. Her only connection to government is the brother whose seat she will be taking. Being a senator is one of the highest-ranking and most exclusive positions in the United Statement government. Only 2,020 Americans have ever been a United States senator. The majority of senators enter the chamber as seasoned lawmakers deep into their political careers. Nordone’s appointment appears, at first glance, to be just another in Trump’s list of exceptionally unqualified appointees.

A history of ‘widow’s succession’

However, there is some rare, yet controversial precedent for the Republican Party’s decision. In the 20th century, the United States developed a not common but also not unheard-of practice of nominating widows of sitting politicians to serve as temporary replacements. This widow’s succession is how many of Congress’s earliest women found themselves in the ranks.

Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics says, “In the cases where (the death) is sudden, oftentimes the party will turn to the widow as a placeholder to help them regroup in that moment and run someone who had the name recognition.”

Political scientists Barbara Palmer and Dennis Simon add that widows also “capitalized on public sympathy … and helped the party avoid internal disputes and provide time to recruit a ‘real’ replacement.” The expectation was that the widow would garner the public’s sentiment, perhaps be easily controlled, and not represent a real threat to future candidates.

The expectation was that the widow would garner the public’s sentiment, perhaps be easily controlled, and not represent a real threat to future candidates.

With that said, widow’s succession was still relatively rare, especially at higher levels of government. In the history of the United States Senate, 303 senators have died in office. Only seven have had their widows appointed as their successor.

The first case of widow’s succession in the Senate comes in 1931, just 11 years after women gained the right to vote. Sen. Thaddeus Caraway died of a blood clot on Nov. 6, 1931. As required by the Constitution, the governor of Arkansas was to appoint a successor until a special election could be held. He chose the senator’s widow, Hattie Caraway.

The expectation was that Hattie would serve nominally over the holidays and then leave office after the Jan. 12 special election. Instead, she told reporters, “The time has passed when a woman should be placed in a position and kept there only while someone else is being groomed for the job.” She won her special election and remained in the senate until 1945.

Just a few years later, in 1936, Rose McConnell Long was appointed to the Senate after the assassination of her husband, Huey Long. Rose then ran unopposed in a special election and finished out her husband’s term before retiring.

These two cases established a rare but valid precedent that would be repeated only a few times in the century to come: Vera Bushfield in 1948, Maryon Allen and Muriel Humphrey in 1978, Jocelyn Burdick in 1992, and Jean Carnahan in 2001.

The only other instance of familial appointed succession came in 2002, when Frank Murkowski resigned as senator from Alaska after being elected governor. He then used his power as governor to appoint his daughter, Lisa, to succeed him. Lisa Murkowski remains in the Senate to this day.

Is widow’s succession a good thing?

One of the primary charges levied against the appointment of Nordone is that it is anti-democratic. However, widow’s succession has actually been seen as a way of making the process more democratic.

Originally, the Constitution mandated that Senate vacancies be filled either by state governors or state legislatures. The 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, modified this to authorize state legislators to empower governors to make temporary appointments until an election can be held. Currently, 45 states authorize their governors to fill Senate vacancies. Only five states (Kentucky, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin) require the seat remain vacant until a special election.

When family members of the deceased senator are appointed as temporary replacement, particularly when those family members have little or no governing experience and do not intend on running for the seat in an election, it can actually make the process more democratic. Historically, incumbent legislators have a significant advantage and are more likely to win elections than nonincumbents. If governors appointed candidates who intended to take the position long-term, their appointing might bestow an incumbency advantage. Appointing a purposeful, short-term candidate allows time for the democratic process to get in order.

Nordone’s appointment is not a long-term solution. She will serve out the remainder of her brother’s term, ending in January 2027, and will be replaced by the winner of the general election in November. Nordone could theoretically choose to run in the special primary to replace Graham on the November ballot scheduled Aug. 11; however, she likely would face a crowded ballot of established politicians.

Historically, the case of Hattie Caraway aside, family-based temporary appointees have either lacked the desire or the votes to parlay their relative’s demise into their own political careers. While we should rightfully be concerned about nepotism, this is not a situation similar to the Murkowskis’ where the appointed senator held political ambitions. Rather, I think we should take this appointment at face value — a traditional, if outdated, tribute meant to honor a politician’s politician.

Lindsey Graham was no hero. He was an unapologetic sycophant, a lying hypocrite, a war-mongering proponent of genocide whose rhetoric and public policy contributed to the deaths of people all over the world. His belief that America had the right to kill was perhaps the only political position that he held with any sort of conviction. He believed in whatever kept him in power for the moment, and his self-serving mentality made his country and his congress worse because of his influence.

There is nothing his little sister can do either by the controversy of her appointment or in her short time as his successor to either contribute to or undo that legacy. Years from now, the answer to “Who was the first female senator from South Carolina?” will make for a good question on Jeopardy that nobody at home will know how to answer.

Meanwhile, we will still be untangling Lindsey Graham’s legacy from our institutions. There are more important things to point our anger toward than his appointed successor.

 

Josh Olds is a public theologian and pastor for those disillusioned with institutional church. He is the creator of the small-group video series “Year on the Mountaintop” and a featured contributor to Fostering Hope: A Prayerbook for Fostering and Adoptive Parents. Follow his work on Facebook or at JoshOlds.com.