Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senior senator and foreign policy hawk who changed from a Donald Trump skeptic to one of the U.S. president’s strongest allies, died on Saturday. He was 71.

The cause of death was “a brief and sudden illness,” Graham’s office said in a post on X that offered no additional details. He was in Kyiv as recently as Friday before returning to Washington, where he was scheduled to appear on NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning.

Emergency personnel responded to a call for “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s Capitol Hill home on Saturday night, NBC reported, citing police scanner audio.

An emotional Trump phoned into "Meet the Press" on Sunday, saying that he spoke to Graham on Saturday night around 7 p.m., shortly after the senator returned from Ukraine. He added that Graham pledged to help pass his controversial voter ID bill.

“He actually said he was tired, but he wanted to pass the Save America Act,” Trump said, adding that he heard at about 1 a.m. that Graham had died. “He was like a member of the family to me. It’s very tough, actually.”

In an earlier social media post, Trump called Graham “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.”

The veteran Republican lawmaker had served in the Senate since 2003. Before that Graham was a House member from 1995 to 2003 and a South Carolina state lawmaker. He chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2021 and was most recently chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

Seeking a fifth Senate term, Graham had been locked in a battle for re-election in the typically conservative southern state with Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician. He won his primary election on June 9 and was heavily favored to secure victory in November, according to polls. The state’s Republican Governor Henry McMaster is expected to appoint a successor to fill the remainder of Graham’s term; one possible candidate is Representative Joe Wilson, the state’s senior Republican in the House delegation.

Russia sanctions

Graham was among the Senate’s staunchest backers of Ukraine, traveling to Kyiv 10 times during Russia’s full-scale of invasion of its neighbor, now into its fifth year. Among his last legislative efforts, Graham was part of a bipartisan group of senators who claimed last week to have reached an agreement with the Trump administration to move ahead with new sanctions on Russia, raising the prospect of more U.S. economic pressure on the Kremlin to halt its war in Ukraine.

“Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X on Sunday, adding that the two met twice in the past week. “In recent weeks, he had been working on important initiatives that could help bring peace closer, including stronger sanctions against Russia.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also expressed condolences. “Senator Graham fought until the very end to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom and raise the cost of Russia’s war of aggression,” she wrote on X.

A frequent visitor to U.S. troops stationed overseas — many times with fellow military veterans and good friend Senator John McCain of Arizona — Graham was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002. In the 2008 general election, he became the first person in South Carolina history to garner over one million votes, according to his Senate biography.

Graham was one of Trump’s loudest critics when the reality TV star and real estate developer sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, calling him a “race-baiting xenophobic religious bigot,” and a “disgrace,” among other things. On X, then known as Twitter, Graham said choosing Trump as the GOP figurehead would destroy the party.

The lifelong bachelor had staged his own short-lived bid for president, announcing his run on June 1, 2015, before suspending the campaign on Dec. 21.

By Trump’s first term in the Oval Office, though, the two men had formed an alliance that morphed over time into staunch loyalty on the part of the senator. The pair golfed together several times over the years at Trump’s courses in Virginia and Florida and hosted a joint “golf classic” in November.

“Lindsey has been a wonderful friend, and has always been there when I needed him,” Trump wrote in a social media post in June.

On NBC, Trump credited Graham with helping get Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh confirmed during a contentious process.

“He’s got so many legacies, but one of the legacies is a Supreme Court justice who’s excellent, named Brett Kavanaugh,” Trump said. “That’s one of the legacies. That’s a big legacy, because Brett was being treated very unfairly.”

Graham was also a harsh critic of Iran and a backer of strong military action against the Islamic Republic.

Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, posted their condolences on X.

“Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable,” Netanyahu said. “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot.”

US Air Force

Lindsey Olin Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, on July 9, 1955, to Millie and Florence James “F. J.” Graham, who ran a bar-restaurant in the small town southwest of Greenville.

He became the first member of his family to attend college, attending the University of South Carolina in Colombia where he obtained a BA in psychology and a JD in law.

Graham logged six-and-a-half years of service on active duty as a lawyer with the U.S. Air Force. From 1984 to 1988 he was assigned overseas and served at Rhein-Main Air Force Base in Germany. Upon leaving active duty Air Force in 1989, he joined the South Carolina Air National Guard, where he served until 1995.

During the first Gulf War in the early 1990s, he was called to active duty and served at McEntire Air National Guard Base in South Carolina.

“Lindsey’s long and dedicated service in the Air Force and in Congress carried him to far-flung regions of the world,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on X. “He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause.”

Graham’s family “appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” his office said.

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(With assistance from Derek Wallbank.)

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