U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) died Saturday at 71 after a brief illness, his office announced.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness. Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” Graham’s office said Sunday morning in a post on X.
Officials did not immediately disclose a specific cause of death.
NBC reported that emergency personnel were called to Graham’s Capitol Hill home for a cardiac arrest, citing police scanner audio.
Graham, a prominent Republican voice and close ally of President Trump, had recently returned to the United States after traveling to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the country’s continuing war with Russia.
A resident of Seneca, South Carolina, Graham had served in the U.S. Senate since 2003, when he took over the seat previously held by Strom Thurmond, who left office at age 100.
During his Senate tenure, Graham held several influential roles, including chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Before winning election to the Senate, Graham represented South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House from 1995 to 2003.
Graham had served in the US Air Force as an active duty lawyer, retiring in 2015 as a colonel with the Air Force Reserves.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster described Graham as “irreplaceable” and the “fiercest of fighters.”
“Peggy and I—and our children—are devastated. Lindsey Graham is irreplaceable. The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America—and a loyal and steadfast friend. We grieve with Darline, his family and his devoted staff. May God hold him gently in the palm of his hand. We shall not see his likes again,” McMaster wrote on X.
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