Lindsey Graham Dies At 71 After ‘brief And Sudden Illness,’ His Office Says

Lindsey Graham, the four-term Republican U.S. senator from South Carolina, died on Saturday after a “brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement.

“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” the statement said. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”

He was 71.

Graham, who was first elected to the House in 1994 and to the Senate in 2002, had been a fixture in Republican politics both in South Carolina and in Washington. The chair of the Senate Budget Committee and a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, he was on his way to clinching his fifth term in office this year, after winning his state’s June primary election.

"Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!" Trump wrote on social media early Sunday. "He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!"

Graham had been visiting Kyiv on Friday, where he told reporters that a bipartisan group of senators had reached an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward with an effort to sanction buyers of Russian oil.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster in a statement called Graham “the fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend.”

Under South Carolina law, the Republican governor can appoint a successor to fill the seat through January.

Graham’s vocal support for Trump’s war in Iran — and calls for military action against the Iranian regime for years before then — drew fierce criticism from anti-interventionist Republicans, including from within the MAGA base. During Graham’s primary campaign, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), supporting Graham’s opponent Mark Lynch in the race, blasted Graham as an “America Last warmonger.”

But Graham had the support of Trump, including in a tele-rally on the eve of the election.

“He's outstanding. He's been at my side for a long time. We fought each other initially a long time ago,” Trump said at the time. “But after that fight was over, we were best of friends, and he's helped me as much as anybody in the Senate.”

Graham, who ran for president in 2016, was one of Trump’s harshest critics in that year’s Republican presidential primary, arguing Republicans should have expelled him from the party. He voted that November for independent Evan McMullin instead of Trump, before becoming one of his fiercest defenders.

Graham’s political legacy came up in an interview with POLITICO on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February. Prompted that he had a long career in politics, Graham responded, “Not long enough.”

Then, asked what he wanted his legacy to be, especially on foreign policy and national security, Graham said, “That I spoke up, shared my thoughts, creatively put together coalitions that moved the ball.”