Lindsey Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina and former opponent turned staunch ally of President Donald Trump, a fierce defender of an interventionist U.S. foreign policy, died Saturday night at the age of 71.
His office announced the death in a statement early Sunday. He died “due to a brief and sudden illness,” a spokesperson told CNN.
The Washington, D.C. medical examiner’s office detailed Sunday afternoon, after a preliminary examination, that the cause was an aortic dissection, a tear in the main artery carrying blood from the heart, caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a gradual weakening and hardening of the arteries. Graham had returned Saturday from a trip to Ukraine.
Trump told Jake Tapper of CNN that he had spoken with Graham just hours earlier, when the senator returned from Ukraine. The president said they talked about his voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act, and about Graham’s recent trip.
“He said, ‘I’m tired because it was a long trip,’ but other than that, he was fine,” Trump recalled.
“What a terrible loss,” the president added. “He was a great politician. He was a natural politician. There are very few like that. He was a natural politician. He got along with everyone.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to Graham as a “dear friend” in a social media post. “Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and the United States are inseparable,” Netanyahu wrote, adding: “Israel has lost one of its best friends.”
Graham helped manage Ukraine’s often tense relations with the Trump administration after the Russian invasion in 2022 and frequently visited Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed deep sadness on social media over Graham’s death. “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world a safer place,” Zelensky added.
Graham, a former Air Force lawyer who served in the Air Force Reserve while a congressman and was briefly deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as a senator, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 before winning his Senate seat in 2002. Last month, he defeated five challengers to win the Republican primary in his bid for a fifth term.
Under state law, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, can appoint a temporary replacement to fill the vacant seat. Since Graham was running for re-election this year, the Republican nomination for that seat also became vacant. State legislation appears to set special primary elections for August 11, with a possible runoff on August 25 to choose his replacement, although authorities have not yet announced the procedure.
According to that schedule, the candidate registration period would run from July 21 to 28. The primary winner will face Democratic candidate, pediatrician Annie Andrews, in November.
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Graham’s death comes as another influential Republican senator, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has spent several weeks hospitalized for undisclosed reasons. This leaves Republican senators without a veteran legislator and reliable vote as they face pressure from Trump to continue pushing his legislative agenda, The New York Times noted.
According to CNN, Graham’s death should not have an immediate impact on the balance of power in the Senate. Additionally, there is likely pressure for Governor McMaster to make the appointment quickly, as the Republican caucus has already been operating with one fewer member in recent weeks due to Senator Mitch McConnell’s hospitalization.
Although Graham’s death probably will not change Senate control, he played a key role in important legislative matters.
The Senate Budget Committee, which Graham chaired, was in the early stages of the complex budget reconciliation process to try to pass parts of the voter ID bill pushed by Trump.
Additionally, the Senate is expected to consider a White House request to approve additional defense funding amid the war with Iran. Graham would have been a strong supporter of that measure, which faces a complicated path in Congress as it may require bipartisan support to pass under Senate rules, CNN indicated.
Approval of more Pentagon funds faces another complication due to McConnell’s absence, chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Graham would also have been a key supporter of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week as Trump seeks his permanent confirmation to lead the Justice Department.
Graham briefly ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2015, arguing that the Republican Party needed to tell Trump, his then-rival, to “go to hell” after Trump proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States.
During the 2016 Republican primaries, Graham was one of Trump’s fiercest Republican detractors, calling him “the most flawed candidate in Republican Party history” and warning that nominating him would doom the party; moreover, he refused to vote for him in the general election.
The relationship between the two changed after a March 2017 meeting with the then newly inaugurated president. By Trump’s second term, Graham had become one of his most trusted voices in the Senate and even described himself as the president’s “north star.”
