The sister of the late U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Darline Graham, who is running to win her brother’s Senate seat (which she temporarily occupies) with the endorsement of President Donald Trump, said last week that she “looks forward to sharing my vision for South Carolina.”
[NOTE: Senator Graham’s married name is Darline Graham Nordone, but she has chosen to use her maiden surname, Graham, for her official work in the United States Senate.]
CNN host Bakari Sellers, who served as a Democratic State Representative in South Carolina, replied to Graham’s post: “The election is in 10 days can you just share it now.”
Sellers added: “Watching republicans change names is a weird phenomenon, Nikki Haley, Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal.”
Yes real crazy. My name on my birth certificate is Nikki. Was born and raised with that name. I married a Haley. Nikki Haley. Somehow makes me a weird Republican. https://t.co/h2ctPFiIFo
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) August 10, 2026
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley replied to Sellers: “Yes real crazy. My name on my birth certificate is Nikki. Was born and raised with that name. I married a Haley. Nikki Haley. Somehow makes me a weird Republican.”
[NOTE: Haley was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa and has said she has gone by Nikki since childhood. “Nikki,” a Punjabi name meaning “little one,” appears on her birth certificate; she took the surname Haley after marrying Michael Haley in 1996. Former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, another Indian-American Republican cited by Sellers, was born Piyush Jindal but began calling himself Bobby as a child, reportedly taking the name from Bobby Brady of The Brady Bunch. Sen. Cruz (R-TX) was born Rafael Edward Cruz and has gone by Ted since childhood. He has said that his father began calling him Ted when he was young because he was being teased over being called Rafael.]
Republicans are defending Haley. Stephen Richer, former Recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, replied to Haley: “You were supposed to change your first name to something more conspicuously ethnic I guess?”
Former FTC senior advisor during the second Trump administration, Jon Schweppe, also replied to Haley, writing: “One of the weirdest, most ridiculous attacks on you.”
Those politicians Sellers mentioned aren’t the only prominent Republicans to change or use alternative names. Vice President JD Vance was born James Donald Bowman, became James David Hamel after being adopted by his stepfather, and later legally changed his surname to Vance, the family name of the maternal grandparents who largely raised him. Vance, who had long gone by J.D., later dropped the periods and now publicly uses JD Vance.