South Carolina governor announces Sen. Lindsey Graham sister's Darline Graham Nordone to finish his term

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced Monday afternoon that Sen. Lindsey Graham's sister, Darline Graham Nordone, will finish his term following his death over the weekend.

President Donald Trump urged McMaster to Nordone to fulfill the rest of Graham’s term, which expires in January. A special election will be held next month to pick a new Republican nominee in the general election for Graham’s seat. 

"It is such an honor," Nordone said, as dozens of Graham staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her, some with eyes glassy from welling tears. "Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him."

"To Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words," Nordone said, emotion rising in her voice. "But I'm going to do this. I got it."

She will be the first woman to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.

RELATED: Who is Darline Graham Nordone, the choice to fill Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat?

Graham served in the U.S. Senate since 2003 after first being elected in 2002 and was seeking a fifth Senate term after winning the Republican primary last month.

According to Graham's office, preliminary findings show he died of aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

"The death certificate will be PENDING until all the toxicological and microscopic testing are finalized and at that point the death certificate will be updated to reflect the cause of death and appropriately classify the manner of death," his office said. 

The rare open Senate seat has ignited a scramble among South Carolina's most ambitious conservatives, who have been eager to climb the political ladder.

How South Carolina's special primary works

According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate’s death, or July 21.

The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or Aug. 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or Aug. 25.

From that point, the new nominee would have just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov. 3.

All of this is problematic, according to federal law, which requires military and overseas ballots to go out 45 days before any federal election. For the general election primary, that would have been June 27. Federal Election Commission officials didn’t immediately return a message seeking clarity about the process.

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