What’s in a name? Supporters call her Graham. Detractors add Nordone

Shortly after Darline Graham was appointed to the U.S. Senate after the death of her brother, several politicians and media outlets called her “Darline Graham Nordone.”

Read more What’s in a name? Supporters call her Graham. Detractors add Nordone

And since, it has led to confusion and subtle jabs by people who don’t support her candidacy for a full six-year term to replace Lindsey Graham on the ballot for U.S. Senate. She is in the Republican runoff against U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman to face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in November.

Detractors keep referring to her as “Nordone” rather than “Graham,” her last name on several official documents going back years.

According to documents obtained by The State, when the Commission for the Blind requested a raise for Darline Graham in 2021 and 2025, the state agency’s board referred to her as “Darline Graham,” which was how her name was listed in state records.

Voter records obtained by The State also identify her as Darline Graham for the past two decades. Property records from Lexington County also list both “Darline Graham” and her husband, Larry Nordone, whom she married in 2006.

But on social media, some have referred to the state’s junior senator as Darline Graham Nordone.

The confusion isn’t unfounded.

Before Graham became a U.S. senator, she sometimes went by Darline Graham Nordone publicly. When President Donald Trump endorsed Graham on July 17, he used her married name. When Lindsey Graham ran for reelection to the U.S. Senate this spring, his campaign referred to his sister as “Darline Graham Nordone” in a news release. Previous media reports have also used Graham’s married name over the years.

“It was my Honor to welcome now Senator Darline Graham Nordone (The sister of the Late, Great Lindsey Graham!), from the Wonderful State of South Carolina, into the Oval Office,” Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post at the time.

A spokesperson for Graham said the senator sometimes went by Darline Graham Nordone on social media so that other parents would know she is the mother of Nicole, whose last name is Nordone. The campaign declined further comment other than her name is Darline Graham.

Associate director at the Center for American Women and Politics Jean Sinzdak said women sometimes continue going by their maiden name after they are married because it is a part of their personal identity.

For candidates, family names may often carry an advantage for those with a political legacy, she said.

Read more Murdaugh prosecutors say ‘lie detector’ statements false. Harpootlian apologizes

“[The Graham name] is a well-known name, so it’s sort of building on to some degree the power of incumbency,” Sinzdak said. “It’s a name recognition thing. Voters know that name; they’re comfortable with it”

For example, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, was appointed in 2002 to the U.S. Senate to complete her father, Frank Murkowski’s, unfinished term. She goes by her maiden name and has been married since 1987.

U.S. Rep. Adelita S. Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, is married with three children, but goes by her maiden name. She succeeded her father, Raúl M. Grijalva, in the U.S. House in 2025.

In the history of Congress, 45 women directly succeeded their late husbands, and all used their husbands’ last names.

Authenticity is one factor candidates weigh to determine which name to use on the campaign trail, Sinzdak said.

Since Lindsey Graham’s death, his sister’s campaign says her last name is Graham. In the Senate on roll call votes in the U.S. Senate, she answers to “Ms. Graham.” The sign outside her office in Washington says “Darline Graham.”

It hasn’t stopped some people from calling her Nordone.

In an Aug. 12 social media post, the Andrews campaign said Graham “changed her last name a month ago.”

Even at the Lexington County Republican meeting Monday when her home county GOP met to endorse Ralph Norman in the runoff, one man said “Ms. Graham or whatever her name may be.” Another person said “I heard Nordone today, (or) Graham, whatever.”

State Rep. Jordan Pace, who is supporting Norman’s campaign, posted a video Wednesday in Summerville outside a meet-and-greet for Graham, which he was not allowed into. In the video, he referred to the junior senator as “Darline Graham Nordone.”

“To me, it’s just a telling the truth about who you are,” Pace said. “The more important issue was who is this person, and then beyond that is like, what does she stand for? So I hope that that’s what people key in on.”

Read more This busy Columbia area to get a new location of a national coffee & donut shop

The runoff is Tuesday, Aug. 25, and polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.