Graham’s sister appointed to fill Senate seat after his death
An autobiography published in 2015 and reviewed by The Guardian recounts Graham’s childhood in Central, South Carolina, a small textile town in Pickens County — the site of the last documented lynching in the state in 1947. Graham’s family owned the Sanitary Cafe, which served Black customers only through a take-out window until Graham, then a teenager, convinced his parents to allow Black diners inside. The integration came in the 1970s, which Graham acknowledged in the book was “much later than it should have.”
His parents died within 15 months of each other while he was in college, and Graham took custody of his teenage sister, Darline. On Monday, President Donald Trump recommended that Darline Graham Nordone be appointed as interim senator, and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster later appointed her to serve the rest of Graham’s term.
Graham entered politics in 1994 as a congressional candidate, winning a key endorsement from Strom Thurmond, the former Dixiecrat presidential candidate and leading segregationist. Graham took Thurmond’s Senate seat in 2003 and absorbed many of his longtime staff.
On the campaign trail in 2020, Graham denied that the nation was plagued by systemic racism, particularly in his home state. He said that minorities, including immigrants, could “go anywhere” in South Carolina but “just need to be conservative.” He cited the election of Barack Obama as proof that systemic racism did not exist. In a 2021 interview after the conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd, Graham told Fox News: “Our systems are not racist. America is not a racist country.”
Graham’s support for Black jurist J. Michelle Childs for a Supreme Court vacancy in 2022 drew criticism from fellow Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, who called it “affirmative action.” Graham pushed back, arguing the label did not apply to qualified minority candidates such as Childs. In 2021, Rep. Jim Clyburn condemned Graham for referring to Covid aid for Black farmers as “reparations,” saying Graham “ought to be ashamed of himself” and might need to get in touch with his Christian values.
On Sunday, Clyburn paid tribute to Graham on X, writing that they “maintained a relationship grounded in mutual respect, even when our political differences were significant.” Graham’s book concluded with an acknowledgment that his parents’ decision to integrate the cafe was “much later than it should have.” He wrote that his father told him, “It is just the way it is.”