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Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s sister, says she’ll run for full Senate term

▶ Watch Video: Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline, announces bid for full Senate term in South Carolina

Washington — 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.”

The late senator, who died on July 11, had secured the GOP nomination in June for what would have been his fifth term representing South Carolina. With his death, the Republican candidate in the South Carolina Senate race will be determined by a special primary election. Republicans seeking the Senate seat may file between July 21 and July 28, before an Aug. 11 primary to decide who will take on Democrat Annie Andrews in November.

Graham, 62, was sworn in last week, after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term, which runs through early January. Graham, who doesn’t have a background in elected office, had a career in disabilities services and most recently served as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind. 

She said upon accepting the appointment that finishing her brother’s term “is what Lindsey would have wanted,” noting that she planned to “honor him in this way.”

Darline Graham sworn in as senator
Darline Graham, sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is ceremonially sworn in by President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on July 14, 2026, as her husband Larry Nordone holds the Bible. 

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

President Trump publicly encouraged Graham to run for a six-year term, writing in a post on Truth Social after meeting with her at the White House last week that she would have his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”

“I hope Darline does this, in that there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey,” Mr. Trump said. 

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Graham said, “I have been praying a lot, talking to my family.”

“I know I’m a hard worker. I learned that from Lindsey,” she said. “I feel like I can do it. I feel an inner peace about it. Will it be difficult? Yes. Absolutely.”

The president’s endorsement hasn’t stopped other Republicans from announcing their intention to run for the six-year term. Rep. Ralph Norman, who’s represented South Carolina in the House since 2017, announced a bid on Saturday. And Rep. Russell Fry, who was elected to the House in 2022, announced his candidacy on Monday. 

If no candidate secures a majority of the vote in the special primary election, a runoff will be held on Aug. 25.

A whisper from the rubble led to baby’s rescue after Colombia earthquake

By CNN
(CNN) — When the deadly 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia on Monday, Brian Osorio Zuluaga ran out of his office in Cali and rushed home on his motorbike.The sight of a collapsed five-story residential building forced him to stop.“It was a large complex, covering an entire block,” Osorio told CNN.The quake was the strongest to hit Colombia in more than a decade and sent residents and neighbors of the building, La Torres del Limonar, fleeing into the street, “some in sleepwear or pajamas; some crying, others in shock,” Osorio said.He approached the rubble and began shouting into the wreckage for survivors, despite warnings about a possible gas leak.He suddenly asked those around him for silence. A faint sound rose out of the debris — barely a whisper.“Yes, I’m here. I’m with a baby,” a man’s voice replied.Osorio described how he and several others began moving debris with their hands to reach the pair. But a large concrete slab blocked their way.“On the first attempt, we couldn’t lift it,” he said. Then, “we all lifted together — one, two, three, up.”The slab was too heavy to toss aside, and Osorio was worried there could be more people trapped underneath. Some volunteers held it aloft as others cleared a path to the baby.“You can see the baby’s little head there — which, at the time, looked sort of purplish because he couldn’t breathe,” Osorio said. “Once we started removing the rubble, the baby began to… breathe, and his color started to come back.”Video of the remarkable rescue filmed by Osorio shows the tiny infant in a dusty bodysuit being carefully pulled out of the wreckage. A man, his arm bloodied, can be seen lying awkwardly on his side, still half-trapped under a concrete plank.Osorio said he was handed the baby, a boy, and gave him to a police officer, who took him to an ambulance. They then turned their attention to freeing the trapped man.In the rubble, Osorio said he saw clothes, shoes, and a stuffed animal covered in dust. He thought about the people who might still be trapped.“All those thoughts go through your mind,” he said.The bravery of everyone who rushed to help was what saved the lives of both man and baby.“Unity is strength, because no one person alone could have lifted that piece of rubble; it was so large and so heavy,” he said.“It’s better to act than to stand still,” Osorio added. “Every bit helps.”Rescue efforts enter third daySearch and rescue operations entered their third day early on Wednesday, as emergency responders raced to find more survivors after the powerful quake struck western Colombia, killing more than 200 people, according to a CNN count based on reports from officials.The quake struck at the heart of the country’s coffee-growing region and catapulted communities into a state of national disaster as world leaders offered aid and assistance.The European Union has mobilized its satellite service Copernicus and is providing funding to help the response, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.In Cali, a woman was pulled from under a mountain of rubble on Tuesday to cheers as firemen carried her out on a stretcher following a complex, multinational rescue operation.And in Pereira, a CNN team on the ground saw rescue workers and volunteers form a human chain to remove debris and help save those trapped from an apartment building.“There’s folks who have jumped in and you can see they’re wearing everything from athleisure wear to shorts, tennis shoes — they’re not prepared for this,” CNN’s senior national correspondent David Culver said from the site. “We have seen scenes like this scattered throughout Pereira. This is one of the hardest-hit areas.”But in the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake, Chocó, an indigenous leader told CNN that help has yet to reach the area, Colombia’s poorest region.Victor Chamapuro, leader of the Wounaan Indigenous Reserve “Buenavista” in Chocó’s Litoral del San Juan, said “all our houses are on the ground.”“Where are we going to sleep now? We have to be alert now, we’re sleeping outside,” he said.Chamapuro called on authorities to send food and medicine, saying one person in the community was injured.The “Buenavista” reserve can only be reached by boat on a five-hour journey from the port of Buenaventura, on Colombia’s Pacific coast.Video sent by Chamapuro from the reserve shows flattened buildings that appear to be built from timber and corrugated iron sheets. Others are still standing but with varying levels of damage.The earthquake is one of the first major challenges for Colombia’s new far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office only last week and has promised to strike hard at criminal groups and leftist militants in Colombia.De la Espriella on Tuesday announced economic relief measures for those affected by the quake, and financial support for people who have lost their homes to rent temporary housing.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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