US Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Republican from South Carolina and ally of President Donald Trump, has died following an aortic dissection, according to a preliminary finding from the Washington, DC, medical examiner. He was 71.
First elected to the US Senate in 2002, Graham came to embody the evolution of the Republican Party as a critic to Trump who turned fiercely loyal, eventually growing to be one of the president’s closest advisers on Capitol Hill.
But even as his fealty to Trump was unquestioned, the senior senator continued to be a vocal spokesperson for US intervention and leadership across the globe — often breaking with the more isolationist bent of Trump’s supporters.
Graham made a name for himself as a foreign policy hawk who ardently advocated for military intervention in Iran and Iraq and was a leading voice for the unwavering US support for Israel and Ukraine. His political career was intrinsically connected to his close relationship to two giants in the Republican Party: first with the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona and then with Trump.
Graham died on Saturday, according to his X account, shortly after returning from a visit to Ukraine — one of many he made after Russia’s 2022 invasion. Emergency responders were dispatched to a DC address for Graham around 8:30 p.m. ET for a report of someone suffering from chest pains, according to audio of the dispatch on Broadcastify. The audio indicates someone called in from Baltimore and was heading to the home.
