Did Darline Graham say she doesn’t want to be a senator? Here’s the real story

Claim:

U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., who filled the vacancy left by her brother Lindsey Graham’s death in July, said she did not want to be a senator and that, “When I get to heaven one day, I am just going to choke Lindsey.”

Rating:

What’s True

Graham said during a campaign event in Greenville, South Carolina, on Oct. 28, that “When I get to heaven one day, I am just going to choke Lindsey.” The reply was in answer to a question about whether she was angry with her brother as part of the grieving process.

What’s False

We found no evidence in the Oct. 28 interview or in other reporting that Graham said she did not want to be a senator. Rather, The New York Times reported that said at a campaign event on Oct. 27 that “I actually love the job,” speaking about her time in the Senate.

Days before the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, a claim circulated that Darline Graham, the senator from South Carolina who filled the vacancy left by her brother Lindsey Graham’s death in July, said she did not want to be a senator and that, “When I get to heaven one day, I am just going to choke Lindsey.”

One X post (archived) that shared the purported quote had nearly 1 million views at the time of this writing.

Claims about what Graham allegedly said also circulated on Facebook and Bluesky (archived, archived). Snopes readers contacted us asking about the claim.

The claim was a mixture of true and false elements. It was true that Graham said during a radio interview (at 34:00) on Oct. 28 that, “When I get to heaven one day, I am just going to choke Lindsey.” 

However, there was no evidence that Graham ever said she did not want to be a senator. She had reportedly said at a campaign event the day before that “I actually love the job,” speaking about her time in the Senate. Rather, Graham appeared to be expressing frustration at the timing of her appointment and intense primary election campaign due to her brother’s unexpected death when she said she wanted to choke him.

Graham spoke about wanting to choke her brother in response to a question during an interview with the local radio station WYRD-FM. One of the interviewers asked (at 31:35):

We hear that there are stages of grief. One of those is anger. Do you sometimes just say, “Lindsey, what did you do to me?” Do you get a little angry with Lindsey for putting you in this situation?

Graham in response spoke about the process of first agreeing to serve out her brother’s term and then to run for a full term in the 2026 elections, the latter at the request of President Donald Trump. Graham said part of the reason she agreed to take over her brother’s term and run for her own full term was to carry on his legacy. 

On her grief, Graham said (at 34:00):

GRAHAM: Some days hit me harder than other days, especially with the grief. I told somebody one time, I said, you know, “When I get to heaven one day, I am just gonna choke Lindsey …”

INTERVIEWER: There you have it!

GRAHAM: … leaving me like this. But I think he would be proud, I really do. And, like, I will never be able to fill his shoes, but we come from the same background, a humble background with two hardworking parents. So I have that same strong work ethic he had. He worked like a dog. I work myself like a dog, and we care about the people of South Carolina.

We found no evidence during any public appearance by Graham that she ever said outright she did not want to be a senator. Given the prominence of her senatorial race, reputable media outlets would have widely reported such a remark, if true.

Graham’s campaign to keep her Senate seat has become emblematic of what Time magazine described as the Republican Party “struggling to maintain voter support” in the 2026 midterms. South Carolina last had a Democratic senator, Ernest F. Hollings, in 2005.

Polling from The New York Times found that voters were equally likely to vote for Graham or her Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews. The Cook Political Report, which provides independent, nonpartisan analysis of elections and campaigns, said the South Carolina senatorial race leaned Republican.

For further reading, follow Snopes’ 2026 U.S. elections coverage.

Sources