The Leftist Commentariat Comes Unglued Over Darline Graham, and the Facts Just Make Them Look Worse

After being appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R), Darline Graham Nordone was formally sworn in on Tuesday as the Palmetto State's next senator, three days after her brother, longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham, 71, passed away in Washington, D.C.

The late Sen.Graham's sister, who will go by Darline Graham while serving in the Senate, received warm greetings from both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill. But the ghoulish leftist commentariat could not resist doing their thing amid what has been an emotional week not just for the Graham family and South Carolinians but also for Lindsey Graham's colleagues, some of whom wept during the Senate floor speeches they gave, where they talked about their friendship and Graham's legacy.

"But I am comforted by the knowledge that in the end, he has just changed his address. And that one day.... We will laugh together again," an emotional Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said in his speech.

As for the leftist commentariat, the talking points about Sen. Darline Graham are already out, with narratives being established. And if one is a True Believer of anything The View has to say, you might think that she was a product of DEI, and that things were so backward in South Carolina that this was the only way a minority could serve in a statewide elected office:

SUNNY HOSTIN: I don't love it. I don't love it. You know, she'll be the first woman to be a U.S. senator in South Carolina in the history of the state. And I think that that's just -- it's just fundamentally wrong that South Carolina just couldn't elect a woman and this is the only way that it was done.
I think the experience does matter. And while she is a certified optician and while she has done great work in that field, I don't think that she should be representing the people of South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. I just don't.
JOY BEHAR: Isn't this the very definition of a DEI?
SUNNY HOSTIN: Correct! correct! It's everything that the Republican Party stands against. Everything! Everything! It's DEI. Nepotism. All these things thrown in together.

Watch:

Sunny Hostin attacks South Carolina for Darline Graham being their first female senator, and says there's something "fundamentally wrong" with the state. She suggests doctors can't be senators.
She and Joy Behar call the appointment "the very definition of a DEI [hire]" and an… pic.twitter.com/MxaSry6HAS
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 15, 2026

Equally obnoxious leftist commentator and frequent Israel basher Glenn Greenwald echoed the DEI suggestion:

Following Lord Lindsey’s passing, Darline, Duchess of Charleston, ascended the High Chamber: crowned Baroness of the Palmetto Seat. Her brother's fiefdom and noble lineage are preserved. Long live the House of Graham and DEI! Aristocrats celebrate in Alexandria and Tel-Aviv. https://t.co/y5JGzSwz5v
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 14, 2026

I should note that neither Hostin, Behar, Greenwald, nor any other woketivist "experts" I saw on X or the Bluesky fever swamps could explain how Darline Graham being appointed to fulfill the last few months of her brother's term was anything like DEI, and that's because they can't. The practice of appointing a loved one - usually a spouse - after an elected official passes away is not uncommon for Republicans and Democrats.

It's something called "widow's succession":

The tradition of a “widow’s succession,” where a wife succeeds her late husband in Congress, has existed for a century. Although the practice has become less common, it played a historically significant role for women's representation in the legislative body during the 20th century.
Forty-eight women have filled vacancies in Congress left by their late husbands through appointment or election. The first to do so was California Representative Mae Ella Nolan, who served from 1923 to 1925. Margaret Chase Smith—a Maine legislator who began her political career by filling her late husband’s seat in 1940—went on to serve 24 years in the U.S. Senate and was the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress. In 1964, she also became the first woman to seek the presidential nomination of a major political party.

And as far as Hostin's insinuation that the only way a minority in South Carolina could hold a statewide elected office is through an appointment, it just confirms how the "smarts" with this woman are in very short supply.

GOP Sen. Tim Scott, who is black, has won three statewide elections for Senate. While a member of the U.S. House, he was initially appointed in late 2012 by then-SC Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to serve in the Senate after Sen. Jim DeMint resigned to go lead the Heritage Foundation. Scott began serving the following January. Scott ran in a 2014 special election to serve out the remainder of the term, and then won reelection in 2016 and 2022, with over 60 percent of the vote each time.

Haley, an Indian-American woman, was elected governor of South Carolina twice.

Moral of the story? If you want accurate history lessons, steer clear of The View and social media. And that goes double if you're someone who wants to preserve your sanity. These clowns are so tiresome and toxic. They truly are.

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