UPDATED 5:30 p.m. July 12 | South Carolinians were shocked Sunday morning to learn of the sudden death of longtime U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.
According to a report in The Washington Post, District of Columbia emergency services received a call at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday about a man having chest pains at Graham’s Capitol Hill address. At about 2 a.m., Graham’s office announced that the 71-year-old Republican senator had “passed away from a brief and sudden illness.”
President Donald Trump, with whom Graham shared a sometimes rocky but ultimately close political partnership, offered his thoughts on the four-term senator’s passing in an early morning social media post.
“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known, is dead!” Trump wrote at 3:21 a.m. “He was always working, and was a true American patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”
His Washington colleague, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, called Graham “a friend” who “always led with faith, family, and South Carolina first.”
“Lindsey remained committed to public service and doing what he loved,” Scott said. “He always introduced levity and brought wit to the most challenging moments. Lindsey will be missed.”
First elected to Congress in 1994, Graham came to national prominence as one of the House prosecutors in President Bill Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial. After his election as a senator three years later, Graham became known for his hawkish foreign policy views, from Iraq to Ukraine to Israel and beyond.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose war-ravaged nation Graham had visited in the days before his death, said he was grateful for Graham’s unstinting support following Russia’s 2022 invasion.
“America and the world have lost a determined leader,” Zelensky said. “Our condolences go out to Lindsey’s family, loved ones, and everyone who had the privilege of working alongside him.”
Back in South Carolina, prayers and condolences for Graham’s family poured in through the night and into Sunday.
Gov. Henry McMaster said he and his wife Peggy were “devastated” by the news, calling Graham a “steadfast friend” and “the fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America.”
“We grieve with [Graham’s sister] Darline, his family and his devoted staff,” McMaster said in a release. “May God hold him gently in the palm of his hand. We shall not see his likes again.”
In Charleston, Mayor William Cogswell lauded Graham for the critical financial support he’d secured for major Lowcountry projects, from harbor deepening to flood protection.
“Senator Lindsey Graham served South Carolina in Washington for more than three decades, and the Lowcountry saw the results of that service every day,” Cogswell said. “On behalf of the city of Charleston, our thoughts and prayers are with his family, his friends and his staff. His legacy will endure in the city and state he loved.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Annie Andrews, the Democrat who was set to challenge Graham this November as he sought a fifth Senate term, called on South Carolinians to join her in “setting partisanship aside and offering gratitude” to Graham for his service as an elected official, a JAG officer and a colonel in the Air Force.
“My deepest condolences are with the family of Sen. Lindsey Graham, his friends, his devoted staff and all who are grieving this sudden and tremendous loss,” Andrews said.
Former national Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison, who ran an unsuccessful Senate campaign against Graham in 2020, added his voice to the bipartisan condolences, saying he was “deeply saddened” by Graham’s passing.
“Lindsey and I had our share of political disagreements, and those differences were often significant,” Harrison said. “But today is not a day for politics. It is a day to recognize a life of public service and to extend our prayers to those who loved him.”
Under state law, McMaster will appoint a successor to serve the remainder of Graham’s current term, which ends in January. Republicans will hold a special primary, expected on Aug. 11, to select a replacement nominee for the November election.
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