Proving they were truly just miserable crones, on Wednesday, ABC News co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Joy Behar raged at Darline Graham after she was pointed to fill her brother Lindsey Graham’s South Carolina Senate seat. Ignoring the fact that it’s fairly common for close relatives to be appointed to their loved one’s seat following their death, those cast members of The View suggested there was something seriously wrong with South Carolina, suggested a doctor couldn’t be a senator, and called Graham a “DEI” hire.
Amid their conversation, and after they played a soundbite of Graham’s emotional acceptance speech, Hostin snapped. “I don't love it. I don't love it,” Hostin declared.
Hostin fully supported Vice President Kamala Harris being appointed the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee without an election. Yet, she couldn’t stand for Graham’s temporary appointment ahead of a special election.
According to Hostin, there was something “fundamentally wrong” with South Carolina because Graham was the state’s first female senator. Without an explanation, she also asserted that a doctor like Graham couldn’t possibly be a senator:
You know, she'll be the first woman to be a U.S. senator in South Carolina in his the history of the state. And I think that that's just -- it's just fundamentally wrong that South Carolina just couldn't elect a woman and this is the only way that it was done.
I think the experience does matter. And while she is a certified optician and while she has done great work in that field, I don't think that she should be representing the people of South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. I just don't.
Since 1791, there have been 54 senators who either studied and/or practiced medicine (not including Graham). As of publication, there were four other such sitting senators, all of them Republicans: John Barrasso (WY), Rand Paul (KY), Bill Cassidy (LA), Roger Marshall (KS).
Sunny Hostin attacks South Carolina for Darline Graham being their first female senator, and says there's something "fundamentally wrong" with the state. She suggests doctors can't be senators.
She and Joy Behar call the appointment "the very definition of a DEI [hire]" and an… pic.twitter.com/MxaSry6HAS— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 15, 2026
Behar, who couldn’t cut it as a secretary for the network, thought she was being smart and suggested that Graham was a DEI hire:
BEHAR: It's this the very definition of a DEI?
HOSTIN: Correct! correct! It's everything that the Republican Party stands against! Everything! Everything! It's DEI. Nepotism. All these things thrown in together.
“I agree with you. It's not like taking over your mother's job at McDonald's,” Behar huffed. “You're in government. You have to know what you're doing.”
Behar and Hostin even had the nerve to claim President Obama was somehow qualified to be a senator after only being a “community organizer” in Chicago:
BEHAR: Obama was a community organizer, like that and they gave him a lot of crap for that.
HOSTIN: And he was qualified to be in the Senate.
BEHAR: Exactly.
They were followed up by co-host Sara Haines who tacitly called them out for being partisan hacks.
Haines admitted she felt like they did before doing a bit of research and discovering that appointment of relatives after a lawmaker’s death were common from both parties. She had since warmed up to it:
When I first saw this I thought, 'oh, do you just do that?' With the sibling pick. So I had to look for context. At first, my reaction was kind of what Sunny and Joy are saying; like 'oh, this isn't a good thing.' And then I realized it's kind of the normal thing. That this is what happens on both sides of the aisle and then I didn't care as much.
Sara Haines calls out Behar and Hostin. Haines notes that relatives being appointed to seats when a lawmakers has passed is a common practice by both sides. She also notes such appointments mean the voters of a state get someone who can represent the in a similar way to who they… pic.twitter.com/V6mUvIBazU
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 15, 2026
She even argued that such appointment were good because it meant the people of South Carolina were getting someone who was a good approximation of the politician they initially voted for:
Because I do think if I agreed more with Senator Graham, which I don't, this is going to be the person that understands what he stood for and what they elected in South Carolina and what they wanted out of Lindsey Graham. I can't think of a better legacy than someone who was really close with him.
Reading from a talking points card someone handed her, Behar stated the obvious that Graham was different person than her brother and whined about how she could have different positions than him:
BEHAR: But we do not know her positions on abortion, foreign policy, or healthcare.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I think we do. She campaigned for her brother. She's going to be -
BEHAR: Why? Just because she's your sister doesn't mean she agrees with you.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She campaigned for him, she appeared in numerous campaign ads, she advocated for -- So, we know she's going to vote very similarly to Lindsay Graham.
Essentially, in not so many words, Behar was arguing against governors appointing temporary senators, which was constitutional.
The only reasons she would make such an argument such an argument would be out of braindead ignorance or, more likely, it was because the Republican majority would be further strained with one less vote.
Neither Behar nor Hostin cared that South Carolina would be without full representation for months before a special election could be held. They were craven political opportunists and far-left extremists.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
July 15, 2026
11:05:02 a.m. Eastern(…)
SUNNY HOSTIN: I don't love it. I don't love it. You know, she'll be the first woman to be a U.S. senator in South Carolina in his the history of the state. And I think that that's just -- it's just fundamentally wrong that South Carolina just couldn't elect a woman and this is the only way that it was done.
I think the experience does matter. And while she is a certified optician and while she has done great work in that field, I don't think that she should be representing the people of South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. I just don't.
BEHAR: It's this the very definition of a DEI?
HOSTIN: Correct! correct! It's everything that the Republican Party stands against! Everything! Everything!
[Applause]
It's DEI. Nepotism. All these things thrown in together.
And, you know, at this very same time Pete Hegseth blocked more promotions for women in particular for women of color to become admirals. And so this is happening. I feel like our government is fundamentally broken and I just -- I disagree -- I disagree with this.
BEHAR: I agree with you. It's not like taking over your mother's job at McDonald's.
HOSTIN: Yeah, it's not.
BEHAR: You're running --
HOSTIN: It's the U.S. Senate.
BEHAR: You're in government. You have to know what you're doing.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: You guys are putting too much stock in who's currently in Congress.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Yeah, you got a point.
SARA HAINES: When I first saw this I thought, 'oh, do you just do that?' With the sibling pick. So I had to look for context. At first, my reaction was kind of what Sunny and Joy are saying; like 'oh, this isn't a good thing.' And then I realized it's kind of the normal thing. That this is what happens on both sides of the aisle and then I didn't care as much.
Because I do think if I agreed more with Senator Graham, which I don't, this is going to be the person that understands what he stood for and what they elected in South Carolina and what they wanted out of Lindsey Graham. I can't think of a better legacy than someone who was really close with him.
BEHAR: But we don't know --
HAINES: To push back on Sunny, experience has not served us well, because you could argue her brother was, you know, a man of a long-term of service and I wouldn't argue he was killin' in there. Like, so, I don't think necessarily experience in our government any longer -- like prereq -
BEHAR: Sara, we do not know --
HOSTIN: Well, it should matter.
BEHAR (reading from a talking points card): But we do not know her positions on abortion, foreign policy, or healthcare.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I think we do. She campaigned for her brother. She's going to be -
BEHAR: Why? Just because she's your sister doesn't mean she agrees with you.
FARAH GRIFFIN: She campaigned for him, she appeared in numerous campaign ads, she advocated for -- So, we know she's going to vote very similarly to Lindsay Graham.
But I would note. So, Tim Scott became the first black man appointed to the Senate from South Carolina when he was appointed by then-Governor Nikki Haley. But then he went on to win and carry on that legacy. So, sometimes it's a way to get a foot in the door for representation even though it's not the ideal way.
[Crosstalk]
HAINES: Just real quickly, button. One thing I liked is that she had worked on the commission in South Carolina for the blind. And the reason I like that is when you're representing groups and you see a group that needs advocates, that needs allies, that needs to be - She's going to look at the population a little different. That's been her life service.
BEHAR: Obama was a community organizer, like that and they gave him a lot of crap for that.
GOLDBERG: Listen, you know what --
HOSTIN: And he was qualified to be in the Senate.
BEHAR: Exactly.
(…)
