Who is Darline Graham Nordone?

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Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, was appointed to serve for the rest of her brother’s U.S. Senate term on Monday.

Graham died over the weekend at age 71. A preliminary medical examiner’s report shared by Graham’s office said he died from an aortic dissection related to artery hardening.

Who is Darline Graham Nordone?

Graham and his sister were close their entire lives, his sister told CNN’s Dana Bash in a 2015 interview after her brother launched his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

“Even when my parents were alive, they worked really long, hard hours running a small business. So even then, he was a caregiver to me,” she said.

The same year, the unmarried Graham was asked by the Daily Mail Online who would be his first lady.

“Well, I’ve got a sister. She could play that role if necessary,” he said.

The two grew up in a single room behind the Sanitary Cafe — a bar, pool hall and liquor store their parents ran in Central, South Carolina.

After their parents died within 15 months of each other, Darline became orphaned at age 13 in 1976. Graham — the first in his family to attend college, and a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps — became Darline’s legal guardian. That enabled Darline to access her brother’s military benefits, she told CNN in 2015.

She said being adopted by her brother “was a little odd” at first, but she came to understand “it makes perfect sense.”

“I knew he was doing what he could to take care of me, and it was best for us,” she said.

What’s next for the Senate seat?

Darline Graham Nordone will be in the seat to finish Graham’s current term, which expires on Jan. 3, 2027.

After that, a special primary must be held by Aug. 11, according to South Carolina’s state election laws, to find a nominee to replace Lindsey Graham on the ballot.

Candidates can file to be on the special primary ballot beginning July 21 through July 28.

If no one gets 50% of the vote, a runoff would be held Aug. 25.

Who will be eligible to vote in that special primary?

The South Carolina Election Commission is ironing out who will be eligible to vote in the Aug. 11 special primary.

Who will run for Graham’s seat?

No one has officially said they would file to run in the special primary.

Jeff Davis, the Greenville County Republican Party Chairman, spoke to sister station WYFF on Sunday.

“I’m expecting a lot of new names to come in. I had already had one candidate who was running in the primary that called me this morning and said they’re in. I think you’ll have some of the people who ran, because they already have some name recognition and they are geared up and they have their infrastructure ready.”

Whoever does win the special primary will face Annie Andrews in November.