Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina and a onetime opponent turned stalwart ally of President Trump who was a forceful advocate for an interventionist U.S. foreign policy, died on Saturday evening. He was 71.<\/p>\n
He died from \u201ca brief and sudden illness,\u201d his office said in a statement early Sunday. No further details were provided. Mr. Graham had returned earlier on Saturday from a trip to Ukraine, and had been scheduled to appear<\/a> on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n A former Air Force lawyer who served in the Air Force Reserve while in Congress and was briefly deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan as a senator, Mr. Graham was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, before winning his Senate seat in 2002. Last month, he fended off five challengers to win<\/a> the Republican primary in his bid for a fifth term.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump offered his condolences on social media early Sunday, calling Mr. Graham \u201cone of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was always working, and was a true American Patriot,\u201d Mr. Trump added. \u201cLindsey will be greatly missed!!!\u201d<\/p>\n Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, a Republican, can immediately appoint a temporary replacement to fill Mr. Graham\u2019s seat. Mr. Graham was set to face Annie Andrews, a Democrat and a pediatrician, in the general election in November.<\/p>\n Mr. Graham\u2019s death comes as another influential Republican senator, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has spent several weeks in the hospital for undisclosed reasons<\/a>. It leaves Senate Republicans without a senior lawmaker and reliable vote as they face pressure from Mr. Trump to continue advancing his legislative agenda.<\/p>\n Mr. Graham, who made a long-shot bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination that went to Mr. Trump, consistently argued for the use of American military power overseas. He was a fierce supporter of Israel and Ukraine, making multiple trips to both countries, and he recently supported aggressive military action against Iran. He was a familiar face for many world diplomats and leaders, several of whom paid tribute to him<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called Mr. Graham a \u201cbeloved friend\u201d in a social media post.<\/p>\n \u201cLindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable,\u201d Mr. Netanyahu wrote<\/a>, adding, \u201cIsrael has lost one of its greatest friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Graham helped navigate Ukraine\u2019s often strained relations with the Trump administration after Russia\u2019s invasion in 2022 and had often visited Kyiv, the capital, despite regular Russian bombardment of the city. On his recent trip to Ukraine, his final visit overseas, Mr. Graham visited a drone factory and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.<\/p>\n Mr. Zelensky wrote<\/a> on social media on Sunday that he was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by Mr. Graham\u2019s death.<\/p>\n \u201cLindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,\u201d Mr. Zelensky added.<\/p>\n Mr. Graham was one of many powerful Republicans who changed their public position on Mr. Trump<\/a>. As Mr. Trump was rising in his first presidential campaign, Mr. Graham lambasted him as a \u201cdemagogue\u201d and a \u201crace-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know how you make America great again?\u201d Mr. Graham said in a CNN interview in 2015. \u201cTell Donald Trump to go to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n He later said that he had voted in the 2016 election for Evan McMullin, an independent candidate, rather than for Mr. Trump or Hillary Clinton, the Democrat.<\/p>\n A decade later, though, he was regularly and effusively lauding Mr. Trump. In a speech celebrating his South Carolina primary victory last month, Mr. Graham joked, \u201cMr. President, you\u2019re not far behind God.\u201d<\/p>\n Over his Senate career, Mr. Graham rose to lead two influential committees, Judiciary (from 2019 to 2021) and Budget (starting in January 2025).<\/p>\n As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he oversaw the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020. Before he was chair, he played a key role on the committee during the 2016 fight over President Barack Obama\u2019s nomination of Merrick Garland to the court, aiding in Republicans\u2019 success in blocking the pick. In 2018, he vehemently defended Brett Kavanaugh, one of Mr. Trump\u2019s Supreme Court nominees, when sexual assault allegations threatened to derail Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s confirmation.<\/p>\n More broadly, Mr. Graham was instrumental in advancing Mr. Trump\u2019s effort to reshape the federal judiciary. During his tenure at the helm of the Judiciary Committee, the Senate, with Mr. McConnell as majority leader, confirmed more than 200 federal judges, cementing one of the defining conservative legacies of the Trump era.<\/p>\n As chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr. Graham played a central role in translating Mr. Trump\u2019s domestic agenda into legislation. He oversaw the budget resolution that, through a procedure known as reconciliation, allowed Republicans to advance much of the president\u2019s sweeping tax, immigration and spending package without support from Senate Democrats. The effort required months of negotiations among warring factions within his party before the tax package became law last year.<\/p>\n It was a defining accomplishment of Mr. Trump\u2019s return to Washington with a Republican-controlled Congress, and highlighted not only the growing influence of Mr. Graham within his party but also his transformation from Trump critic into a steadfast and outspoken ally.<\/p>\n After Mr. Graham\u2019s volleys of criticism during Mr. Trump\u2019s first presidential run, the two men became close associates, bonding over regular golf outings<\/a>. While Mr. Graham occasionally voiced<\/a> disagreements<\/a> with Mr. Trump, they largely remained in lock step on most policy issues.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want somebody who can go to Washington to help him, I\u2019m your best choice,\u201d Mr. Graham said of Mr. Trump during his recent campaign.<\/p>\n Lindsey Olin Graham was born in Central, S.C., a town in the western part of the state, on July 9, 1955, the elder of two children of Florence James Graham, known as F.J., and Millie (Walters) Graham.<\/p>\n His parents operated a restaurant and bar, then known as the Sanitary Cafe, that Lindsey and his sister, Darline, worked in as they grew up. The family at first lived in a room behind the establishment, eventually moving into a trailer and then into a house next door.<\/p>\n \u201cMy home was a bar,\u201d he recalled in his 2015 memoir, \u201cMy Story,\u201d adding that he \u201cwas loved inside those walls, as much as any child could be loved, by two devoted parents.\u201d<\/p>\n He graduated from high school and went on to become the first member of his family to attend college. In 1976, when he was 20 and his sister was 11, his mother died of Hodgkin lymphoma; 15 months later, his father died of a heart attack.<\/p>\n After their deaths, Mr. Graham became his sister\u2019s legal guardian, later adopting her so she could receive his military benefits.<\/p>\n