Lindsey Graham, longtime GOP senator and Trump ally, dies at 71 after sudden illness
Lindsey Graham Dies at 71 After Sudden Illness
Lindsey Graham longtime GOP senator and Trump – Lindsey Graham, longtime GOP senator and close Trump ally, has died at age 71 following a sudden illness. His office confirmed the news to CNN, stating that the South Carolina Republican was experiencing a brief health crisis when he passed away. Graham first entered the Senate in 2002, evolving from a vocal critic of Trump to one of the president’s most trusted advisors on Capitol Hill.
Throughout his career, the senator remained an outspoken advocate for American intervention and global leadership. This position often distinguished him from the more isolationist wing of Trump’s supporters. Graham built a reputation as a foreign policy hawk, championing military action in Iran and Iraq while supporting sustained American aid to Israel and Ukraine.
Death Comes After Ukraine Trip
Graham’s political journey was shaped by his relationships with two Republican leaders: the late Senator John McCain and President Trump. According to his X account, he died on Saturday shortly after returning from Ukraine, one of many visits he made following Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Emergency responders were called to a Washington DC area location around 8:30 p.m. ET after reports of chest pains, according to dispatch audio. The caller was in Baltimore and heading to Graham’s residence. A spokesperson declined to share further details but issued a statement thanking the public for their prayers and requesting privacy during this difficult time.
Trump Honors a “Natural Politician”
President Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he spoke with Graham just hours before his death, when the senator returned from Ukraine. Their conversation covered the president’s voter identification proposal, the “SAVE America Act,” and Graham’s recent travels abroad.
“He said, ‘I’m tired because it’s a long trip,’ but other than that, he was fine,” Trump recalled. “What a terrible loss it is. He’s a great politician. He was a natural. Very few of them. He was a natural politician. Got along with everybody.”
Graham began his political career in the early 1990s after serving as a city and county attorney in South Carolina. He won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1994 and also served in the US Air Force as both a prosecutor and defense attorney. His youth was marked by tragedy when both parents died within fifteen months of each other while he was finishing college. His father died of a heart attack, and his mother passed from cancer.
He took on the responsibility of raising his thirteen-year-old sister, Darline, and eventually adopted her. Graham never married and had no children.
In 2015, Graham briefly ran for the Republican presidential nomination, telling Trump to “go to hell” after the businessman proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States. During the 2016 GOP primary, he became one of Trump’s harshest Republican critics, calling him the “most flawed nominee in the history of the Republican Party” and warning that nominating Trump would damage the party. He even refused to endorse Trump in the general election.
“It was a nasty campaign,” Trump told CNN on Sunday. “He was tough and nasty, but I was nasty, too, and it worked out fine.”
Their relationship improved after a March 2017 meeting between the congressman and the newly inaugurated president, though Graham sometimes disagreed with Trump’s positions. Hours after rioters stormed the Capitol to stop the 2020 election certification, Graham acknowledged that Joe Biden had been lawfully elected president despite Trump’s false victory claims.
“Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. I hate it being this way. All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough,” Graham declared on the Senate floor on January 6, his voice trembling with emotion after the rioters were removed from the chamber.
