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U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Republican who went from a vocal critic of Donald Trump to one of his most loyal allies on Capitol Hill after Trump became president, has died. He was 71.
The South Carolina lawmaker died after a “brief and sudden illness,” his office posted on X early on Sunday. U.S. media said emergency personnel had responded to a call for cardiac arrest at his Capitol Hill home on Saturday night.
Graham, just back from a trip to Ukraine, had been scheduled to appear on NBC’s Meet the Press interview program on Sunday morning, the network said.
Shortly after his death was announced, Trump called Graham “one of the greatest people and senators I have known” and a hard-working patriot.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “deeply saddened,” calling Graham “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.”
A defence hawk, Graham “consistently pushed for outcomes in the War on Terror that protect our long-term national security interests,” his website said. He was a prominent supporter of Israel and Ukraine, and an opponent of Iran.
“Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
During the 2016 campaign, Graham was among many Republicans who lost the presidential nomination to Trump. He posted on social media: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it.”
Graham told CNN in 2015 that Trump was “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” adding, “He doesn’t represent my party. He doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”
Later, after becoming a staunch supporter and frequent golf partner, Graham still publicly disagreed with Trump’s early 2025 decision to pardon about 1,500 of the president’s supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, saying it could lead to more violence.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks during a bill signing in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 3, 2026, in Washington, D.C. The Republican went from being a vocal critic of Donald Trump to later becoming one of his most loyal allies. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
On Friday, Graham said China could play a decisive role in pressuring Russia toward peace talks, helping end its war in Ukraine. Graham had met Zelenskyy in Kyiv during his recent trip to Ukraine. They discussed Ukraine’s air defence needs and a Russian sanctions bill, Zelenskyy said.
Graham said bolstering Ukraine’s military capabilities and aligning sanctions with a diplomatic push could force Moscow into talks.
“The road to ending this war, the road to peace, passes through Beijing more than it does [through] Washington, Kyiv or Moscow,” Graham told reporters at Kyiv’s Mykhailivska Square. “China has an oversized influence. I’d like them to use their influence for the good of the world.”
“I don’t believe [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is there yet, but it wouldn’t take much to get him there.”
Zelenskyy noted that Graham had visited Ukraine 10 times since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks during a news conference at an open-air exhibition of destroyed Russian military vehicles in Kyiv on May 26, 2023. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
Graham recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
A former Air Force lawyer and member of the South Carolina Air National Guard, Graham was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002. Before that, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 for South Carolina’s 3rd congressional district, according to his website.
He was not married and lived in Seneca, S.C.