Lindsey Graham dies at 71 after ‘brief and sudden illness,’ his office says

Lindsey Graham dies at 71 after ‘brief and sudden illness,’ his office says The senator had been a been a fixture in Republican politics both in South Carolina and in Washington. 07/12/2026 03:01 AM EDT 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!!!” Despite his increasing fealty to Trump, Graham also broke with him in key moments — including his vote to certify the results of the 2020 election and his condemnation of Trump’s pardon of violent Jan. 6 rioters. 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. He was scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. 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. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement hours after Graham’s death. “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu wrote, adding that he recently met with the senator and told him: “We have no better friend than Lindsey.” 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 chaired the Judiciary Committee during the final two years of Trump’s first term, a crucial stretch that included the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court — as well as advancing a flood of district and appellate court nominations that helped Trump reshape the courts. The effects have been palpable in Trump’s second term, as many of his aggressive assertions of executive power have landed in the courtrooms of judges Graham helped shepherd through the confirmation process. Graham became a critical ally of Trump during his failed effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, calling Georgia officials amid Trump’s pressure campaign to reverse his defeat there and finding himself the subject of an ill-fated criminal investigation by Fulton County prosecutors. Graham was forced to testify in that probe after a legal battle that reached the Supreme Court. He later voted to certify the results of the 2020 election and called former President Joe Biden the legitimate winner. Last year, he criticized Trump’s decision to issue a blanket pardon to rioters that assaulted police on Jan. 6, 2021, while Congress was working to certify the election results. Still, Graham was one of Trump’s fiercest defenders against the mounting investigations and prosecutions her faced after his first term ended. He voted to acquit Trump at his impeachment trial over the Jan. 6 attack and repeatedly accused the Biden administration and local prosecutors of “weaponization.” 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.” In a statement, Senate Majority Leader John Thune called Graham “a trusted adviser and colleague to me and many others, and numerous presidents and heads of state have relied on his counsel. His influence on the federal judiciary, our national defense, and his beloved South Carolina will be felt for generations.” Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.