Key takeaways:
- Lindsey Graham died Saturday evening, July 11, after what his office called a “brief and sudden illness.”
- Graham had served in the Senate since 2003, chaired the Senate Budget Committee and was seeking a fifth six-year term in November.
- NBC News reported that emergency personnel responded to a “cardiac arrest” call at Graham’s Capitol Hill home Saturday night.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the most prominent Republicans in the U.S. Senate and a close political ally of President Donald Trump, died Saturday night after what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness.” He was 71.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement released early Sunday. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
Graham had represented South Carolina in the Senate since 2003 and was seeking a fifth six-year term in November. At the time of his death, he was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was widely known as a leading Republican voice on defense and international affairs.
NBC News reported that emergency personnel responded Saturday night to a call for “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s Capitol Hill home, citing police scanner audio it obtained. Photographs reviewed by NBC News showed paramedics carrying a person on a stretcher from Graham’s home to an ambulance, with police cars and fire trucks also at the scene.
Graham had recently returned from Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He had been scheduled to appear Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
A retired Air Force Reserve colonel who specialized as a military lawyer, Graham built much of his public profile around national security. The Guardian reported that he supported the Iraq War and had long urged military action in Iran. He also became one of Trump’s most visible defenders on Capitol Hill after initially opposing him during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Graham ran for president in 2016 and was a sharp critic of Trump during that race, but he later became one of the former president’s most loyal Republican allies in Congress.
His death comes as another senior Republican senator, Mitch McConnell, remains hospitalized. NBC News reported that paramedics responded last month to a call at a known residence for an individual experiencing cardiac arrest. A McConnell spokesperson has said the former GOP majority leader is continuing to recover, though his team has not provided further details about his condition.
Graham’s office did not immediately release additional details about the illness or funeral arrangements.
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