Long-serving Republican Senator Lindsey Graham dies suddenly at 71, prompting tributes from Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky and world leaders.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the United States’ most influential lawmakers and a close ally of President Donald Trump, has died at the age of 71 following what his office described as a brief and sudden illness.
Graham died on Saturday evening, with preliminary findings from the medical examiner indicating that the cause of death was a rupture of the aorta, a major artery connected to the heart, according to a statement issued by his spokesman.
The South Carolina senator had only just returned from Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. His office said there had been no known health concerns before the trip.
President Trump led tributes to the veteran lawmaker, describing him as a true American Patriot who would be greatly missed.
Trump said he had spoken with Graham only hours before his death.
“He was a tough cookie in many ways,” Trump said. “If he wanted to get something, if he thought he was right and he had people against him, he could be very tough, actually. But he was a good person.”
First elected to the US Senate in 2002, Graham became one of Washington’s most prominent voices on foreign policy, consistently advocating a robust American military presence overseas and taking hawkish positions on conflicts involving Iran, Ukraine, Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan.
His political relationship with Trump evolved dramatically over the years. Graham was initially one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics, describing him in 2015 as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”
Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Graham also warned: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed and we will deserve it.
Following the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, Graham distanced himself from Trump, telling the Senate: “Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”
However, the senator later reconciled with the president, voted against convicting Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial and eventually endorsed his successful return to the White House in the 2024 election.
Explaining his decision during a 2023 interview, Graham said. “There is a dark side to Donald Trump and he was a very good president. But I am sticking with him because I saw what he did.”
Graham remained a leading advocate for strong US support for Israel and Ukraine throughout his Senate career. In one of his final television interviews last month, he warned that the United States would 0obliterate” Iran if it failed to accept US control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Graham as one of Israel’s strongest allies.
“Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel had lost “one of its greatest friends.”
President Zelensky also paid tribute, saying he was deeply saddened by Graham’s death.
America and the world have lost a determined leader, the Ukrainian president wrote on X.
Beyond politics, Graham overcame significant personal hardship. While attending university, he lost both parents within two years, after which he assumed responsibility for raising his younger sister and later legally adopted her.
He subsequently graduated from law school and served as a military prosecutor and defence attorney in the US Air Force before entering politics.
Following his death, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is expected to appoint an interim senator until voters elect Graham’s successor during the November midterm elections.