Lindsey Graham’s death revives a rare and controversial custom: Keeping a Senate seat in the family

Family members can offer name recognition and continuity in moments of disruption, but choosing senators based on bloodlines inevitably courts controversy, experts say

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Lindsey Graham’s sudden death earlier this month revived an unusual American tradition: filling Senate vacancies with family members.

After the 71-year-old senator passed from an aortic rupture , South Carolina’s governor appointed his sister, Darline Graham , to serve out the remainder of his term. Graham, who previously led the state’s Commission for the Blind, announced this week that she will seek a full six-year term in November with the backing of President Donald Trump .

This type of ascension, while steeped in history, is extremely rare. Over the last century, only a handful of deceased or departing members have been replaced by kin, with most of the appointees being widows.

The advantages are straightforward. Relatives often arrive with built-in name recognition, familiarity with staffers and access to the same donor networks . They can offer continuity in a moment of disruption, and can serve as consensus candidates in a fractured field.

But the practice also carries a whiff of the Old World. The structure of the Senate is already fairly undemocratic, and family succession can reinforce that perception. Even if a replacement is qualified, their appointment inevitably invites questions about nepotism and fairness.

“It is, frankly, a throwback to — not necessarily feudalism — but power by hereditary rule and the British crown,” Rob Richie, founder of the non-profit Expand Democracy, told The Independent . “Here we are in America 250 . That is something that we were rejecting, but obviously not completely escaping from.”

While House vacancies must be filled by election, the Senate process is different. The 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, gives states the option to allow governors to make temporary appointments until a successor is elected. State law determines whether and when a special election is held.

Since 1913, only 12 Senate vacancies have gone to family members, making it an extremely rare practice, according to an analysis of Senate archives .

The first was a trailblazer twice over. In 1931, Hattie Caraway was appointed after her husband, Democratic Arkansas Senator Thaddeus Caraway, died of a blood clot. She went on to win election in 1932 and 1938, becoming the first-ever woman elected to the Senate.

Another instance of so-called widow’s succession came in 2000 when Jean Carnahan was chosen to replace her husband, Mel Carnahan, who died in a plane crash shortly before he was elected to represent Missouri in the Senate. Upon arriving to Capitol Hill, her tone was understandably more solemn than celebratory.

“I know I did not come to the U.S. Senate in the same way you did,” Carnahan, a Democrat, told her new Senate colleagues. “My name has never been on a ballot. On election night there was no victory celebration. You are here because of your win; I am here because of my loss. But we are all here to do the work of this great nation.”

Until now, the most recent senator to have filled in for a relative was Senator Lisa Murkowski , an Alaska Republican. In 2002, then-Governor Frank Murkowski, who had just resigned from the Senate, tapped his daughter to succeed him — and she has since won election four times.

Political experts say there are multiple practical reasons governors might look to a senator’s widow, child or sibling when filling a vacant seat.

Chief among them is name recognition — something Darline Graham, who has never before held elected office, has in spades.

Her late brother had occupied his Senate seat for more than two decades. During that time, he mounted a presidential bid and positioned himself as a powerful interlocutor between lawmakers, foreign leaders and Trump. The scope of Lindsey Graham’s influence is perhaps most visible in death. His funeral, set for Tuesday at the National Cathedral, is expected to draw multiple world leaders , with Trump slated to deliver a tribute.

“I mean, he's been in public life for over 30 years in South Carolina,” Gibbs Knotts, a political scientist and provost at Coastal Carolina University, told The Independent . “Obviously she's got really, really strong name recognition.”

Serving in Congress also inevitably means family involvement. Relatives of lawmakers may already be familiar with staff and donors, and accustomed to the grind of speeches, fundraisers and campaign travel.

“If you're, if you're the spouse of a politician, you are going to all the same political events, you're meeting all the same people, you're making the same contacts, you get known,” Gregory Koger, a political science professor at the University of Miami, told The Independent . “And so, it is itself its own training.”

He said the sympathy factor cannot be overlooked.

“Widows, or a sister in this case, often make pretty handy substitutes because they are objects of sympathy,” Koger said. They can also serve as a “consensus figure” that people rally around, helping a governor sidestep “the costs and controversy of a contested primary.”

In the case of Darline Graham, though, these advantages may be less relevant than the endorsement of President Trump, who has established himself as the kingmaker of GOP politics .

Trump urged South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster to tap Graham, and pressed her to run for a full term, stating that “there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey.”

At the same time, elevating someone to one of the most powerful positions in government based on their bloodline carries practical and political downsides, experts said.

For one, a successor may not prove nearly as effective as the person they replace. “Appointees have varied in quality. Muriel Humphrey was a short-term placeholder: a nice person, but she did not have the same...

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