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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Joseph Gedeon in Washington

Lindsey Graham’s sister and fill-in senator says she’s ‘not that informed on national security’

a man and a woman stand at lecterns in a television studio
Ralph Norman and Darline Graham debate ahead of the Republican primary runoff in Newberry, South Carolina, on 18 August 2026. Photograph: Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images

Asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea threaten US national security, Republican fill-in senator Darline Graham hesitated. “I’m just going to be honest here,” she told Tuesday night’s debate audience. “I’m – not that informed on national security, so – but I do support the military.”

Gasps, and boos, rolled through the opera house hosting the only debate before next week’s Republican runoff – a race to succeed her brother, Lindsey Graham, who was one of the Senate’s most committed rightwing foreign policy hawks before his sudden passing in July. She did not retreat.

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