Sen. Lindsey Graham passes away at 71
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away this past weekend.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the longtime South Carolina Republican and one of the Senate’s most prominent voices on foreign policy, died Saturday night at age 71. His office confirmed his death from a “brief and sudden illness” early Sunday morning.
Lindsey Olin Graham represented South Carolina in the U.S. Senate for over two decades, having been elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2008, 2014, and 2020. Before that, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives starting in 1994, representing South Carolina’s third congressional district.
Graham built a reputation as one of the Senate’s leading hawks on national security and foreign affairs. He was a strong supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and long pushed for military action against Iran, and he was a staunch ally of Israel, backing President Trump’s later campaign against Iran as well. Most recently, he chaired the Senate Budget Committee , and also served on the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
His relationship with President Trump was one of the more notable arcs of his career. In 2016 he briefly sought the Republican presidential nomination and was an outspoken Trump critic before dropping out, but he later became one of Trump’s staunchest congressional allies.
President Trump led the tributes this morning, calling Graham “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known” and a “true American Patriot.”
Graham’s final days were characteristically devoted to foreign policy: he had just returned from Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. Zelenskyy called him a true defender of freedom, noting Graham had visited Ukraine ten times during the war. He had been scheduled to appear on NBC’s Meet the Press the morning after his death.
Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum. Senate Majority Leader John Thune praised him as “a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe,” while South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster called him “the fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend.” Democratic Senate candidate Annie Andrews, his opponent in this year’s race, extended condolences to his family, friends, and staff.
Graham was seeking a fifth six-year term this November, having just secured the GOP nomination in June. Under South Carolina law, Governor McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement, and a special Republican primary is expected to be held by August 11 to determine a new nominee for the general election.
Senator Graham is survived by his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, and their extended family. He never married and had no children, often describing the Senate and his constituents in South Carolina as his life’s work.