Lindsey Graham, longtime South Carolina senator, dies at 71, his office says
Lindsey Graham, a longtime Republican senator from South Carolina, died Saturday night, his office said in a statement released early Sunday morning.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, US Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” according to the statement. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
Graham, who was first elected to the House in 1994 and the Senate in 2002, was running for reelection this year. He had been a staunch ally of President Donald Trump on most matters but had broken with the president on some issues, such as foreign policy.
“He’s outstanding. He’s been at my side for a long time,” Trump said in a tele-rally for Graham last month, acknowledging that the two men had duelled for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. “After that fight was over, we were best of friends, and he’s helped me as much as anybody in the Senate.”
Trump praised Graham again tonight on his Truth Social platform, calling him a “true American Patriot,” and said that more details on Graham’s funeral would follow.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said in a statement that Graham was “the fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America – and a loyal and steadfast friend”.
Under South Carolina law, McMaster can make an immediate appointment to fill Graham’s seat for the remainder of his term, which expires in January.
Graham, whose birthday was Thursday, recently returned from Ukraine after meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Graham told reporters in Kyiv on Friday that a bipartisan group of senators had reached an agreement with the White House to impose new sanctions on Russia in an effort to end that country’s long-running war with Ukraine.
Emergency medical responders worked to stabilise a man at Graham’s home on Saturday night and transport him to a hospital, according to police scanner audio obtained by The Washington Post and witnesses.
Emergency medical services received a call around 8.30pm local time for a person suffering chest pains at a Capitol Hill home owned by Graham, according to the audio. About 25 minutes later, emergency personnel said that CPR was in progress and that a man at the house was suffering from cardiac arrest.
A person who lives on Graham’s street shared photos of an older man being taken from Graham’s home by wheeled stretcher and loaded into an ambulance around 9.30pm. The man was then taken to George Washington University Hospital.
Graham’s death narrows Republicans’ majority in the Senate, where they had held a 53-47 edge but were already facing the expected absence of one member. The office of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has said the 84-year-old lawmaker has been hospitalised since last month but has shared few other updates on his condition.
Among possible successors in South Carolina, businessman Mark Lynch was runner-up to Graham in last month’s Senate GOP primary, with Graham receiving about 57% of the vote and Lynch about 29%. Other GOP candidates for the seat included Paul Dans, who served in the first Trump administration and helped devise the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025″ agenda that has influenced the president’s second term.
Democrats have nominated Annie Andrews, a paediatrician, for the seat.
After arriving in the Senate in 2003, Graham emerged as one of the nation’s most prominent Republican lawmakers, serving as a key negotiator on foreign policy, defence, immigration and health care bills. At the time of his death, he led the Senate’s Budget Committee and the appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign policy spending. He also served as a key member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Graham was chairman of the Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first administration and played a key role in confirming conservative judges and remaking the federal courts.
Graham presided over the controversial October 2020 confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which came three weeks before that year’s presidential election.
He launched a presidential campaign in June 2015 but failed to gain support in polls, facing scrutiny over his conservative bona fides and his personal life. At the time, the never-married Graham promised a “rotating first lady” if elected President.
He ended his presidential campaign in December 2015, before any votes were cast. Graham subsequently endorsed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and later Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), saying he thought Trump was unfit to serve as President.
After Trump won the GOP nomination, Graham said he chose to vote for third-party candidate Evan McMullin.
But Graham emerged as a key Senate supporter of Trump during his first administration, defending the president’s conduct and policies. He also argued that Trump should not be impeached after he was accused of inciting the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“This was an impeachment effort driven by passion and hatred against President Trump,” Graham said after Trump was acquitted in February 2021.
More to come