Senator Darline Graham Nordone was sworn on Tuesday as South Carolina’s interim U.S. Senator, making her the 65^th woman in history to serve as a U.S. Senator, and the first from the state of South Carolina. As a “care taker” Senator, she will fill out the remainder of her brother’s term, which expires in January and will not be a candidate in the Republican primary special election, which will be held on August 11. (Appointment has been a common path to a Senate seat for female Senators – Senator Graham is the 20^th woman to be appointed, though not all appointments are as “care takers”—Trivia question: which four women currently serving  in the Senate were initially appointed to their seats and have since been re-elected?)

The appointment of sisters, wives or daughters of Senators who die in office had been a somewhat common practice in history although it’s become much less common in modern time. Hattie Caraway, former Senator from Arkansas and the first female Senator to serve more than a day, was appointed after her husband died in office. Of the first thirteen female senators, 9 were appointed, of whom five were the wife of the prior Senator and two were the wife of the governor making the appointment. The only time in recent history of a similar appointment was that of Senator Murkowski (R-AK) to fill her father’s Senate seat when he became Governor.

Senator Darline Graham’s appointment will make her the 27^th woman currently serving in the U.S. Senate, giving the 119^th Congress the distinction of having the record highest number of female senators serving together. (At 26 women previously it had been tied with the 116^th Congress.)

The urgency to replace Senator Lindsey Graham reflects the challenge posed by the thin majority in the Senate. Republicans currently maintain a 53-47 vote majority, but the absence of Senator McConnell for health reasons means that Republicans could only have 2 members vote with Democrats. Seven sitting Republican Senators (including Mr. McConnell) are not running for re-election[i], and two members of the party lost their primaries[ii] as a result, in part, to President Trump’s endorsement of their opponent. As a result, the pool of potential defectors is uncomfortably large for the narrowness of the majority. Absences also become a real challenge, especially as the election approaches for the 10 Republican Senators who are running for re-election.[iii]

Even narrower than the margin for floor votes though, is the margin for committee votes. Perhaps most importantly, both Senators Graham and McConnell have been serving on the Appropriations committee, which has a 15-14 membership balance between Republicans and Democrats. Once Mr. Graham’s seat is replaced by another Republican, the committee will still have equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats as long as Sen. McConnell’s absence persists. His absence from the Judiciary Committee is also critical for the Administration as the Committee seeks to confirm the President’s appointee to Attorney General, Todd Blanche. Mr. Graham was also a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and was Chairman of the Budget Committee, both of which have an 11-10 seat balance as does Judiciary. (In addition to Appropriations, Sen. McConnell sits on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee and chairs the Committee on Rules and Administration.)

Committee Leadership

Sen. Graham was serving as Chairman of the Budget Committee, and Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. Republican Conference rules determine the number of Committees and Subcommittees each member may chair and sit on. Specifically, Republican chairs of “A” committees may not chair any subcommittees and Republican chairs of “B” committees may chair only one subcommittee. (Budget is a B committee.)

Sen. Ron Johnson is next in line of seniority to chair the Budget Committee and has been vocal in describing his goals for the role and the next reconciliation bill (which include more offsets and less deficit spending). However, the Republican Conference rules specify that committee chairs are selected by a majority vote through secret ballot of the members of that committee and he/she “need not be the member with the longest consecutive service on such committee”. Once the Committee members select a choice, the proposed chair is also subject to a vote by the full Republican Conference, again by secret ballot. Should Sen. Johnson be chosen to take that role as Budget Chair, he’d be required to give up one of his two Subcommittee chairmanships, either the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations within the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) or the Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth in Finance.

With regard to the State and Foreign Ops Subcommittee leadership within the Appropriations Committee, only Senators Rounds and Husted are currently on the Appropriations Committee and don’t already chair another appropriations subcommittee, nor does either already chair three subcommittees on other committees.

Committee seats

In addition to the changes to Committee leadership and Subcommittee leadership, Mr. Graham’s seat on each committee will have to be replaced, either by the new Sen. Darline Graham or by another member of the Republican Conference. (Appropriations and Judiciary are both desirable committee seats – none of the six freshmen Republican Senators elected in 2024 have seats on either committee; freshman Sen Husted (R-OH) was put on appropriations when he was appointed to fill Vice President Vance’s seat and Senator Moody (R-FL) is on Judiciary since her appointment to backfill Sen. Rubio.)  This could precipitate a waterfall of other changes to other committee assignments. Proposed assignments and changes to committee rosters will be subject to approval by a majority vote of the full Republican Conference, although the Republicans’ Conference rules allow the Floor Leader to unilaterally appoint “half of all vacancies of each ‘A’ committee”.

[i] Sen. Steve Daines (MT), Sen. Cynthia Lummis (WY), Sen. Joni Ernst (IA), Sen. Alan Armstrong (OK), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (AL), Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY), and Sen. Thom Tillis (NC)

[ii] Sen. John Cornyn (TX), Sen Bill Cassidy (LA)

[iii] Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Sen. Susan M. Collins (ME), Sen. Tom Cotton (AR), Sen. Bill Hagerty (TN), Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith (MS), Sen Roger Marshall (KS), Sen James Risch (ID), Sen Mike Rounds (SD), and Sen Dan Sullivan (AK)