Larry Nordone, husband to the late Lindsey Graham’s sister, and now U.S. Senator, chased covid profits using his wife’s government contacts during the height of the pandemic.
Larry Nordone, husband to the late Lindsey Graham’s sister, and now U.S. Senator, Darline Nordone, owns a company which sought to profit by obtaining contracts with the government of South Carolina to sell PPE, National File can exclusively report.
Nordone’s company, Birchwood Trading, chased the contracts with South Carolina’s Division of Procurement Services.
National File uncovered the documents in a list of vendors at procurement.sc.gov, the role of which was to assist state agencies in evaluating whether to do business with vendors like Nordone’s.
Nordone is listed as the “point of contact” for Birchwood Trading in the Division of Procurement Services spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet lists https://birchwoodtrading.net as the company’s website, which leads to an under construction message from Birchwood naming Nordone as the sole point of contact.
Despite the inactive website, Birchwood has a social media presence online, both on Facebook and LinkedIn.
BIRCHWOOD TRADING
The company’s LinkedIn page identifies Birchwood Trading, LLC as a Columbia, South Carolina wholesale business. The profile describes Birchwood as a “family owned home textile company” and says it has assembled a collection of fabrics, accessories, and textiles.
Birchwood’s Facebook page lists the same birchwoodtrading.net website and (803) 250-2926 phone number displayed on the company website. The page also advertises warehouse sales of consumer goods, including apparel and seasonal merchandise.
A 2018 Lufkin Daily News report also linked Nordone to Birchwood in connection with a charitable teddy-bear project. That record, as well as the company’s public social-media pages, reflects a business associated with home textiles and retail products.
The Division of Procurement Services spreadsheet says it was compiled to assist state agencies evaluating companies seeking to provide PPE and other COVID-19 emergency products. The spreadsheet states that each agency was responsible for deciding whether the information was sufficient to proceed, and that nothing in the list constituted an endorsement or non-endorsement of a vendor.
THE POLITICAL CONTEXT
The records surface as Darline Graham seeks to retain the Senate seat she was appointed to fill after the death of her brother, former Senator Lindsey Graham. Legal Insurrection reported that Graham’s campaign is facing an August 11 special Republican primary, with Republican operatives and lawmakers raising questions over whether President Donald Trump’s endorsement will carry her to victory.
As noted in the Legal Insurrection report’s commentary, the candidate recently rebranded herself from Darline Nordone back to her maiden name of Darline Graham—dropping her husband’s surname as she campaigns for her late brother’s seat.
Graham’s opponent Mark Lynch, who finished second to the deceased Lindsey Graham in South Carolina’s June 9th Republican primary with more than 130 thousand votes, has presented a different COVID-era story to voters. Lynch says he kept his family business open during the pandemic and stood against government overreach.
In a recent post on X, Lynch wrote: “During COVID, we made a decision that many said couldn’t be done we kept our family business open. We refused to surrender our freedoms, stood up to government overreach, and fought to protect our employees, our customers, and our community.”
Lynch is running on his opposition to COVID-era government mandates. Graham, meanwhile, enters the race as the family connection to Birchwood Trading’s appearance in the state’s COVID-era PPE vendor list becomes part of the public record.
