WASHINGTON — Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was elected to the Senate in 2003 and was a close political ally of President Donald Trump, has died, her office confirmed Sunday morning. He was 71 years old.
Graham died Saturday evening “following a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement.
“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult time,” the statement said.
President Donald Trump on Sunday paid tribute to “one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known,” describing Graham as a “true American patriot” in a Truth Social article.
Graham was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was seeking a fifth six-year Senate term in November. He was one of the chamber’s best-known members and a key voice within the party on defense and foreign policy.
Emergency personnel responded to a call of a “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s Capitol Hill home Saturday evening, according to police scanner audio obtained by NBC News.
Photographs of the scene reviewed by NBC News show paramedics carrying a person on a stretcher from Graham’s home to a waiting ambulance. Police cars and fire trucks were also on scene.
A senior Graham aide told NBC News on Sunday that there was no indication the lawmaker was unwell before his death. He was scheduled to appear on NBC News “Meeting the press” on Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune praised a “strong defender of the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries around the world,” while South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said Graham had been “South Carolina’s and America’s fiercest fighter – and a loyal and steadfast friend.”
Under South Carolina law, McMaster will appoint someone to fill Graham’s seat until Jan. 3 of next year.
In June, Graham defeated several primary challengers to obtain nomination for a fifth term. South Carolina Republicans must now find a replacement candidate, with a special primary election expected by Aug. 11, per the state’s election laws.
Graham had just returned from a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday. “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Zelenskyy said in a statement, noting that he visited Ukraine ten times during the war.
“We were in constant dialogue, which I will miss,” he said, adding that “in recent weeks he has worked on important initiatives that could help bring peace closer, including strengthening sanctions against Russia.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said Graham “understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable,” adding: “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend.”
His death comes as fellow Republican Senator Mitch McConnell stay in hospital after paramedics responded to a call at a known residence last month for a person in cardiac arrest.
A spokesman for McConnell said the former Republican majority leader continues to recover, but his team did not provide further details on his condition.
Growing up in the small town of Central, South Carolina, Graham’s parents ran a restaurant and pool hall. The first in his family to go to college, he earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina before embarking on a military career, serving in the United States Air Force as an attorney. Graham served a total of 33 years in the Air Force, Air Force Reserves and South Carolina Air National Guard, fulfilling his reserve duties while holding his seat in Congress. He retired in 2015 at the rank of colonel.
Graham came to Congress as a member of the House of Representatives, where he served from 1995 to 2003.
He ran for Senate in 2002, winning the South Carolina seat previously held by incumbent Strom Thurmond.
Graham made a name for himself through his work on foreign policy. In recent years, he pressed the Trump and Biden administrations to support kyiv’s fight against the Russian invasion, and urged the Trump administration for a hawkish stance towards Iran.
He found allies for his foreign policy positions in the Upper House, befriending former Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., nicknamed “the Three Amigos” for their shared hawkish stances.
Graham was the “last very effective defender of the idea that American power must shape events before hostile powers reshape them,” Michael A. Horowitz, a geopolitical and security analyst, told NBC News.
In the Trump era, Horowitz added, “his foreign policy influence shifted from shaping a broad consensus in the Senate to molding Trump’s own instincts, using loyalty and flattery to maintain hard-line positions on Iran, Ukraine and Syria in the room, even as the party base turned more inward.” »
Graham chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2021. He most recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, where he helped bring a bill to fruition. major tax cuts and spending package during Trump’s second term.
Graham initially criticized Trump, whom he briefly ran against in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, warning: “If we nominate Trump, we will be destroyed.” » Graham even voted for a third-party presidential candidate in 2016, saying he could support neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton.
The relationship between the two men has evolved over the past decade, with Graham frequently praising Trump while sometimes pressing him on policy decisions. In an interview with NBC News in February, he called himself the president’s “north star.”
“We don’t agree, but he knows where I’m coming from,” Graham said of the president. “He sees me helping him as much as anyone in the Senate.”
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