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In today’s edition, senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur digs into how Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death will change the Senate. Plus, the latest on the Iran war, with the U.S. and Iran locked in a struggle over the Strait of Hormuz.

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— Scott Bland

South Carolina governor appoints Lindsey Graham’s sister to finish his Senate term

By Rebecca Shabad

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham Nordone, Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister, to serve the rest of the late Republican senator’s term, which ends in early January.

“Today, under the law, it’s my duty to and honor to name someone to serve in the place of this irresistible man, this irreplaceable man, this extraordinary man, for the remainder of his term,” McMaster, a Republican, said at a news conference alongside Graham’s sister.

“Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed. It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darline Graham, to finish his work for him now,” he said.

Graham Nordone thanked McMaster for selecting her. “It is such an honor,” she said. “Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him.”

When she’s sworn in, Graham Nordone will become South Carolina’s first female senator.

Graham Nordone will finish her brother’s six-year term, which ends Jan. 3. Graham died Saturday at age 71 of what was preliminarily diagnosed as a rupture of his aorta due to a hardening of his arteries, his office said Sunday.

How Lindsey Graham’s death (with Mitch McConnell’s absence) immediately changes a busy Senate

Analysis by Sahil Kapur

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s unexpected death complicates an already difficult dynamic on Capitol Hill for President Donald Trump and his party as both chambers of Congress return Monday from a two-week recess.

Graham, R-S.C., sat on the powerful Appropriations Committee, which is trying — and so far failing — to hammer out an agreement to fund the government and avert a shutdown by the Sept. 30 deadline.

Between Graham’s death and the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for the foreseeable future because he was hospitalized last month, Republicans have effectively lost their majority.

With Graham’s seat vacant for the moment, the breakdown on the committee is 14 Republicans and 14 Democrats. But while McConnell is also gone, Democrats have a one-seat edge if the committee tries to vote on legislation.

Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster just appointed a replacement for Graham: his younger sister, Darline Graham Nordone, who will fill his seat for the rest of the year.

Once she is sworn in, Senate Republicans can reshuffle committee assignments and regain the Appropriations Committee seat. But until McConnell returns, the best they’ll have is an evenly split panel — not enough to pass a government spending bill without Democratic support.

Meanwhile, Graham’s death vacates the chairmanship of the Budget Committee, which would go to Ron Johnson, R-Wis., if seniority carries the day.

Johnson may be third in line on the committee currently, but he’s the next man up because the two Republicans ahead of him — Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mike Crapo of Idaho — already chair other important committees and can’t hold two gavels at once. Johnson has no such conflict.

Also of note: Graham’s sudden death similarly leaves a 10-10 partisan split on the Budget Committee until he is replaced and Republicans fill the vacant slot, though they can do that quickly.

And then there’s the matter of Senate floor math. For the next vote Monday afternoon, the Senate GOP majority is effectively down from 53 to 51 seats, given that McConnell can’t vote absentee. That narrows the party’s margin for defections if it seeks to pass nominations or filibuster-proof measures without Democratic votes.

Democrats have 47 Senate seats.

But for most pieces of legislation, the Senate requires 60 votes, meaning Graham’s death — and McConnell’s continued absence — will have limited impact in that realm.

Graham Nordone is not a politician or public figure, but she’s expected to be a reliable Republican vote for the last six months of her brother’s term.

U.S. and Iran are locked in a power struggle over the Strait of Hormuz

By Chantal Da Silva

We control the Strait of Hormuz.

That is the message from both Iran and the U.S., with the two sides locked in a power struggle over the crucial waterway that intensified with a weekend of attacks and fiery statements.

The fate of the key trade route was supposed to have been settled by the tentative agreement to end the war. But the deal was in “crisis,” Tehran warned Monday, before President Donald Trump proclaimed shortly afterward that the U.S. was “taking over” the strait.

Trump said Monday on Fox News that “everything was agreed to” in an eleventh-hour meeting Sunday but that Iranian negotiators had come back later and suggested changes, without expanding on what those changes were.

The U.S. would become the “guardian of the strait,” he said.

Later, he suggested on Truth Social that the U.S. would be reimbursed “at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped.” He said that the strait was open but that the U.S. was reinstating the Iranian blockade, “so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving,” and that all other countries “will have fair and open use of the Strait.”

Meanwhile, hostilities between the two countries continued to escalate.

A strike on a container ship sparked the latest intense exchange of missile and drone attacks, threatening to collapse the ceasefire, bring renewed conflict across the Middle East and tilt the global economy back toward peril.

“We bombed the hell out of them,” Trump said Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” hours before another wave of American attacks. Iran said it hit back at U.S. facilities across the Persian Gulf.

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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Scott Bland and Annelise Hanson.

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