Darline Graham Takes U.S. Senate Seat, Bringing 7 Years of Disability Policy Experience
Updated
Updated · PBS NewsHour · Jul 18
Darline Graham Takes U.S. Senate Seat, Bringing 7 Years of Disability Policy Experience
3 articles · Updated · PBS NewsHour · Jul 18
Summary
Darline Graham, 62, was appointed this week to serve the rest of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate term through January 2027, despite never previously holding elected office.
Since 2019, she has led South Carolina’s Commission for the Blind and built a career in vocational rehabilitation, giving her deep experience in employment and services for people with disabilities.
Disability advocates and former colleagues describe her as a low-profile civil servant who helped implement South Carolina’s 2022 bipartisan law ending subminimum wage for people with disabilities.
Her immediate political direction remains unclear, but she said Tuesday she would support the president and continue her brother’s work, even as disability groups face pressure from Medicaid cuts and education-policy shifts.