Lindsey Graham

After Senator Lindsey Graham died last month, his sister, Darline Graham, essentially inherited his seat in Congress.

With it, she inherited his office on Capitol Hill, his staff in Washington and back home in South Carolina, and his key spots on coveted committees. For a brief time, Ms. Graham was bequeathed her deceased brother’s security detail.

But the new Republican senator from South Carolina did not inherit her brother Lindsey’s gift of gab.

In the weeks since Ms. Graham came to Washington to fill her brother’s seat and then quickly said she would run to succeed him, she has shied away from the media attention that Mr. Graham so often relished. That has left many unanswered questions about the views and positions of a woman who had never held public office.

Where Lindsey was loquacious and often pontificated on the news of the day, Darline has rarely addressed the reporters who ask her questions at the Capitol. She has spoken little in committee hearings, and has taken part in few interviews.

Ms. Graham’s relative silence is particularly striking given her decision to run for Mr. Graham’s seat, one she made just days after being sworn in on July 14. Her decision to run has intensified scrutiny of her statements and has put her in a different light than had she only been a caretaker of the seat.

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