Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican senator, dies at 71

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican first elected to the chamber in 2002, died Saturday evening at age 71, his office said Sunday. The announcement removes a senior Republican voice from the Senate, where Graham served on budget, appropriations, judiciary and environment committees.

Graham’s office said in a statement on X that he died on the evening of July 11 after a “brief and sudden illness.” His family asked for privacy and said it appreciated prayers, according to the statement.

A spokeswoman for Graham told MS NOW that the senator had recently returned from Ukraine. She said she had no further details on the circumstances of his death and that additional information would be released in the coming days.

A long Senate career

Graham entered the Senate after winning election in 2002 and later secured re-election in 2008, 2014 and 2020. His Senate website described him as “a conservative problem-solver” and “one of the strongest proponents of a robust national defense.”

He served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, according to his office biography.

Before joining the Senate, Graham represented South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives after his election in 1994. His congressional career followed service in the U.S. Air Force, including six and a half years on active duty as an Air Force lawyer, according to his Senate biography.

During the first Gulf War in the early 1990s, Graham was called to active duty and served as a Staff Judge Advocate, preparing service members for deployment to the Gulf region, according to the biography. He retired from the Air Force Reserve in June 2015 at the rank of colonel after 33 years in uniform.

Tributes from Washington and abroad

President Donald Trump described Graham on Truth Social as “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.” Trump said Graham “was always working” and called him “a true American Patriot.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X that he and his wife, Sara, were grieving “with the American people” over the death of their “dear friend.” Netanyahu said Graham believed that the security of Israel and the United States were linked and said the senator had worked to strengthen the alliance between the two countries.

Graham was born in South Carolina and grew up in Central, where his parents operated a restaurant and pool hall, according to his Senate website. The site said he was the first member of his family to attend college and earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of South Carolina.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.