South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham Dead at Age 71

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican stalwart from South Carolina, has died, following a “brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement sent early Sunday. He was 71.

According to the statement, which was posted to Graham's social media accounts, “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.”

According to a second statement released by Graham's office Sunday afternoon, preliminary findings by the Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia determined that he died of aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease—in other words, a rupture of the body's main blood vessel caused by a hardening of the arteries.

Donald Trump responded to his death early Sunday, writing on Truth Social, “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!”

In a statement also posted to social media, Senate Majority Leader John Thune wrote “My heart is heavy this morning to learn of the passing of my friend and colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham.”

“He was a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe," he continued. "He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause…His influence on the federal judiciary, our national defense, and his beloved South Carolina will be felt for generations.”

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is expected to name a temporary appointee to fill Graham's Senate seat. An election for a full-term replacement would, according to South Carolina law, be held in November 2026.

Lindsey Olin Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, on July 9, 1955. In his 2015 memoir, My Story, he wrote that as a youth he worked in his family's pool hall, a segregated bar called the Sanitary Cafe. He called the childhood job “a great way to grow up," but noted that its racial integration, which did not occur until the 1970s, was “much later than it should have [been].”

The first member of his family to attend college, as a 21-year-old, he took legal guardianship of his then-13-year-old sister after both of his parents died. As a lifelong bachelor with no children, that sister, Darline Graham Nordone, remains his closest living relative.

After completing law school, he served in the US Air Force as a defense attorney, an experience he later said influenced his interest in the increased use of American military power overseas.

In 1992, Graham defeated a Democratic incumbent to represent Oconee County in the South Carolina House of Representatives. After serving one term, he ran to replace retiring Democratic Congressman Butler Derrick and prevailed, serving four terms in the US House of Representatives. When Strom Thurmond decided to retire from US Senate. Graham ran to succeed him in 2002 and won the seat he would occupy until his death.

In 2015, he mounted an unsuccessful bid for the presidency, during which he referred to then-hopeful Donald Trump as “The world’s biggest jackass,” among other critiques. In response, Trump shared Graham's phone number with attendees of a campaign rally, urging them to flood his voicemail in response. Though the pair occasionally disagreed, Graham pivoted once the real estate magnate was elected, and remained ultimately faithful to Trump during the president's two terms in office, even reaching out to Georgia election officials in 2020 regarding that state's vote count.

A staunch abortion opponent, Graham introduced legislation to enact a federal ban on the procedure every year beginning in 2013, but ended the practice in 2024, telling NBC “I haven’t even thought about it." His focus, he said then, was securing aid for Ukraine, a country he vocally supported since Russia's invasion in 2022.

His advocacy for Ukraine filled his final days. Graham had just returned from a visit to Ukraine, and was scheduled to appear on Meet The Press Sunday to discuss that country's war, among other issues. In a statement, President Volodymyr Zelensky mourned Graham's passing, writing “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.”

This story is developing…