Trump wants Lindsey Graham’s sister to finish his Senate term
Lindsey Graham rides on the back of a golf cart with his sister Darline Graham Nordone (C) during the Iowa State Fair on August 17, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said on Monday he wants Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to be his temporary replacement in the Senate.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced around the same time as Trump’s post that he will be making an announcement about who is appointing to the Senate seat at 4 p.m. on Monday
ABC News has reached out to McMaster’s office about Trump’s push for Nordone to be Graham’s replacement. ABC News has already reached out to Nordone for comment.
Trump wrote in a social media post that he made his recommendation to McMaster, and said it would a “fabulous tribute” to Graham.
Separate from the temporary replacement to complete Graham’s term, South Carolina will hold a special election on Aug. 11 to replace Graham as the Republican nominee on the general election ballot this November.
Graham and his sister shared an incredibly close relationship. After their parents died when Graham was only 22 years old, he took on a caretaker role for his younger sister, becoming her legal guardian.
Nordone, in a recent video for Graham’s reelection campaign, said of her brother, “He’s always been there for me, no matter what.”
It is not immediately clear if Nordone has any political experience or aspirations. According to The New York Times, Nordone is a mother of two and has worked to help people with disabilities find jobs.
Graham’s office announced over the weekend that the longtime Republican lawmaker had died suddenly at the age of 71. Preliminary findings from the Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia said the senator died from an “aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”
Trump, in an interview with “Fox and Friends” on Monday morning, called Graham a “friend” and praised his work on shepherding through the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his first term.
“He had fun with politics, but he was really good at it,” Trump said of Graham. “And then when he got angry, like he did in the case of Brett Kavanaugh, it was so impactful.”
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo speaks during a ceremonial groundbreaking for the USD 1.75 billion, 33,000-seat domed stadium for Major League Baseball’s Athletics on June 23, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Nevada’s gubernatorial primary has resulted in a face-off between incumbent Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and Democratic nominee Attorney General Aaron Ford and the race is indicative of whether GOP governors in battleground states can survive while distancing themselves from President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings, a dynamic with implications for 2028.
Economic anxiety, conflict overseas, a polarizing mass deportation program and low approval ratings for the president might become headwinds for Lombardo, despite a Republican presidential candidate carrying the state for the first time in two decades in 2024.
Nevada offers a particularly revealing test case: a tourism-heavy economy, a working-class Latino electorate and an expanding bloc of nonpartisan voters. Since Lombardo’s 2022 victory, registered independents have surged in the state.
Las Vegas tourism fell 7.5% last year, while unemployment remains among the nation’s highest.
Asked whether he can guarantee unemployment will fall, Lombardo said in a statement that since he took office, “… Inflation has come down, wages are rising, housing prices are stabilizing, and Nevada leads the nation in post pandemic job creation, as well as both small business and wage growth.”
His supporters have pointed to his work on the state’s education system.
“The governor has worked to bridge the gap in per pupil spending with several billion dollars in funding without raising taxes, as well as open enrollment, more school choice, and accountability reforms,” John Burke, spokesman for a pro-Lombardo PAC, said. “We’re already seeing results, graduation rates are growing and students are getting the resources they need to succeed.”
Ford, who was a single father in college relying on food stamps and Medicaid, said he’s focused on affordability.
“Nevadans … cannot afford a home, they cannot afford health care, they can’t afford gas, they can’t afford groceries, and it’s all this Lombardo-Trump economy doesn’t work for the working people, it’s working for this billionaire class,” Ford said in an interview with ABC News.
Ford has been endorsed by former Vice President Kamala Harris and Nevada’s Democratic congressional delegation.
“He’s battled fentanyl being trafficked across our southern border, gone after fraudulent landlords who are jacking up prices on working families, and won more than $1 billion in settlements from taking on big drug companies,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., in a statement to ABC News.
Lombardo, a former Clark County sheriff endorsed by Trump, said in a KLAS interview that Nevadans may need to “feel a little pain” over Trump’s tariff policies to see job growth — a line Democrats have campaigned on.
“[Trump] ran on it, he was very vocal about it and very transparent about it in how he was going to accomplish that,” Lombardo said last year. “So, I think we maybe need to feel a little pain in the short term and hopefully in the long-term it’s a huge benefit for us.”
Ford has taken the Trump administration to court more than 40 times, including over tariffs.
“I sued up those tariffs, I won, and I’m not going to stop until Nevadans get the $1,700 of stolen money out of the pockets they had to pay in extra taxes because of those tariffs,” Ford said.
Peter Guzman, president of Nevada’s Latin Chamber of Commerce, told ABC News that Lombardo had conversations with the White House that resulted in Nevada avoiding large-scale immigration raids.
“We’ve been able to prevent any kind of chaos when it comes to ICE, because of his relationships, not only with Trump administration, but also because of his years in law enforcement,” Guzman said.
Nevada Republicans have criticized Ford for spending at least 322 days out of state, mostly attending professional conferences, according to a Nevada Independent review of his calendar. GOP campaign ads have branded him “high-flying Aaron Ford.”
Ford called the attacks “juvenile” and said working with attorneys general nationwide helped “address issues that transcend state borders.”
In 2022, Lombardo ousted incumbent Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak by just 1.5%.
“The average election in Nevada is often decided by a very narrow margin. Both parties have their constituencies, but there’s a group in the middle that decides these races and the best candidate will earn those voters,” Burke said.
Steny Hoyer arrives in Christianborg Palace on January 16, 2026 in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Photo by Martin Sylvest Andersen/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — At the beginning of this year, after spending more than four decades in Congress and serving as the number two Democrat in the House under Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Steny Hoyer, 87, announced his plans to retire at the end of his current term.
Hoyer’s announcement instantly launched a crowded race to replace him in southern Maryland’s deep-blue 5th Congressional District, which has ballooned to include more than 20 Democratic primary candidates. Voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide who will be the Democratic nominee for Hoyer’s seat, as well as other federal, state and local offices on the ballot in Maryland’s midterm primary election.
Shortly after announcing his retirement, Hoyer chose his intended successor — the longtime Democrat endorsed his former aide Maryland state Del. Adrian Boafo. The district is unlikely to elect a Republican, so whoever wins the Democratic primary is on a glide path to victory in November.
Boafo, who served as Hoyer’s campaign manager, also picked up endorsements from other Democratic heavyweights in the state like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks.
Those running against Boafo include former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, healthcare CEO Quincy Bareebe, Prince George’s County Councilwoman Wala Blegay and former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who rose to national prominence for his testimony in congressional hearings about defending the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. Dunn ran for the House in the 3rd District in 2024 and finished second in the Democratic primary.
The debate over the influence of pro-Israel and pro-cryptocurrency super PAC money has played a central role in the race to replace Hoyer, as Boafo’s opponents have criticized the millions of dollars his campaign has received from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s United Democracy Project (UDP) PAC and Protect Progress, a crypto-aligned super PAC.
“Adrian has spent the last year laser-focused on the issues impacting Marylanders. His opponents continue to try and make the race about anything else besides what this race is actually about: the people of this district and the real need to have a fighter who stands up to this President,” Boafo’s campaign manager, Oren Adams, told ABC News in a statement.
In the northwest part of the state, former Rep. David Trone — who gave up his seat representing Maryland’s 6th District to launch an unsuccessful run for Senate in 2024 — is trying to make a political comeback after losing to Alsobrooks in the 2024 Democratic primary. Trone, a businessman who has self-funded his campaigns to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, is hoping to reclaim his seat from his successor, Rep. April McClain-Delaney, the wife of former Rep. John Delaney, who also once represented the 6th District before leaving to seek higher office.
At the top of the ballot, Moore seeks the Democratic nomination for what would be his second term in the governor’s mansion. The high-profile governor is seeking re-election as his name continues to be floated as a potential contender for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028.
The Pentagon, heaquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, is seen from the air on February 8, 2025, in Washington, DC. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon on Friday began to release declassified unidentified flying objects (UFO) files from various federal agencies, some dating as far back as the late 1940s.
The release is in keeping with President Donald Trump’s announcement earlier this year that he directing agencies to make public files related to UFOs, unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and “extraterrestrial life.”
The documents, which the Pentagon said includes “never-before-seen” files, are being posted on a new government website.
“The American people can now access the federal government’s declassified UAP files instantly. The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place — no clearance required,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The department said it will release more files “on a rolling basis.”
There are some redactions in the files, but this is the first time ever that complete case files have been released. In recent years, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has been reviewing these historic documents and has released public summaries and reviews to the public.
So far, none of their reviews have found anything that has led them to conclude that UFOs or UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
