Ankara: Late US Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat will be filled by his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, after his recent sudden death, the governor of his state, South Carolina, announced Monday. "Lindsey took care of his little sister," Henry McMaster said during a ceremony in the state capital Columbia. "It's my honor to ask his little sister, Darlene Graham, to finish his work for him now."

According to Anadolu Agency, Nordone accepted the appointment, saying her brother had always supported her. She pledged to serve for the remainder of his term and continue backing President Donald Trump.

Graham's office said he died from a brief and sudden illness. Preliminary postmortem findings said the cause was an aortic dissection resulting from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. First elected to the Senate in 2002, Graham was a close Trump ally and chaired the Senate Budget Committee. He was seeking a fifth term in November.

He was an outspoken backer of Israel, maintaining support throughout the genocide in the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have killed 73,118 Palestinians and injured 173,615, while causing widespread destruction to about 90% of civilian infrastructure.

He also supported Ukraine and had returned shortly before his death from a visit to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to the Axios news site, Graham spoke with Trump on Saturday night about Ukraine, additional sanctions on Russia, and renewed US military action against Iran. He reportedly complained of feeling unwell after the call but declined immediate medical attention.

Graham later joked: "I can't die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out and do Israeli-Saudi normalization." He died several hours later.