Obituary: Sen. Graham, GOP Stalwart, Dies at 71 --- Trump ally backed tough action against Iran, had longtime support for Israel

“LINDSEY GRAHAM

 

1955-2026

 

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a foreign-policy hawk who transformed from a fierce critic of President Trump into one of his closest allies in Congress, has died. He was 71.

 

The Republican senator, who was the chief congressional proponent of the months-old war with Iran and a staunch supporter of Israel and Ukraine, died after a brief and sudden illness, his office said on Sunday. He had been in Ukraine on Friday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and had returned home to Washington.

 

Graham was "one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known," Trump posted on social media on Sunday. The president ordered flags flown at half-staff until Saturday evening. Graham's family said it appreciated prayers and asked for privacy.

 

Emergency personnel responded to a medical emergency for a person suffering from cardiac arrest at Graham's address on Capitol Hill on Saturday evening, according to a recording of police-scanner traffic reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

 

A Graham spokeswoman said the District of Columbia medical examiner in preliminary findings said the senator died following a tear in his aorta because of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

 

The spokeswoman said the death certificate will be pending until all toxicological and microscopic testing is finalized.

 

The death of one of the most influential GOP senators stunned Washington.

 

"Total shock and disbelief at the loss of a great American," said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R., Ohio). "My heart is heavy this morning," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.).

 

Graham's death temporarily leaves the GOP Senate majority at 52-47, and Republicans are also missing Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who is out amid health problems. South Carolina's Republican governor, Henry McMaster, is expected to fill the Graham seat with a Republican soon.

 

Graham, who was first elected to the House in 1994, was elected to the Senate in 2002 and held the seat since then, forming close ties on both sides of the aisle. Since running against Trump for the 2016 presidential nomination, he has become one of the president's top surrogates as well as a golf partner and frequent adviser.

 

He had unusual access to the president and pressed him to take a hard line against Iran and remain firmly aligned with Israel, for which he was one of the Senate's strongest backers.

 

"They say if you break it, you own it. I don't buy that. You break it when it's a threat," Graham said in an interview with the Journal this year regarding Tehran.

 

Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill had criticized Graham for what they saw as his role in goading Trump into the Iran conflict. Graham's effort to get Trump and his MAGA movement to back regime change was "the quintessential political maneuvering beyond all political maneuvering," Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) said this year.

 

Graham "was a very strong military person. So am I," Trump said in an interview on Sunday on CNN. "But I think we used it a little bit differently. We probably had a little bit of a different attitude. But we got along on it." Trump said he had spoken to Graham several hours before his death.

 

 The president said Graham told him he was tired from the overseas trip but seemed fine otherwise.

 

Even those who opposed some of Graham's policies saw in him an astute politician. He had so many good relationships both on Capitol Hill and around the world that he came to be viewed as something of an indispensable figure in Washington because he was so often at the center of conversations.

 

"I fought with him like a brother," said Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.), a political partner who had dinner with Graham last week in Ankara, Turkey. "But we also came together and worked really hard on things we both cared deeply about."

 

A major piece of unfinished business for Graham was durable peace in the Middle East. A congressional delegation that Graham helped lead after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel was part of his broader plan to arrange for recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia, a defense pact with the Saudis and an avenue toward Palestinians' control over their own country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has no better friend than the senator.

 

Lindsey Olin Graham was born in Central, S.C., on July 9, 1955, and grew up in the backroom of his family's bar, where he worked to help them make ends meet -- as well as developing his skills as a pool player and a sharp sense of humor. After his parents died while he was in college, Graham frequently traveled back home to care for his younger sister, eventually becoming her legal guardian.

 

He earned his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of South Carolina. He later served as a military lawyer in the U.S. Air Force and briefly worked in private practice before winning office in the state House.

 

He played a prominent role early in his congressional career when he was named one of the managers of Democratic President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.

 

For more than two decades, initially as a close partner of then-Sen. John McCain, Graham was among the Senate's most persistent advocates of U.S. military power, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Graham served in the Air Force Reserve until his retirement in 2015 at age 60 with the rank of colonel. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for his "exceptionally meritorious service."

 

Graham ran for president in the 2016 cycle, advocating a major military offensive in the Middle East. He called Trump, who was mounting his own campaign, a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot." He tweeted that if Republicans nominated Trump, "we will get destroyed, and we will deserve it."

 

Graham was relegated to undercard debates with other low-polling candidates -- where he showcased his wit but made little impact with voters. "I wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library," he said at a debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. "I've got a lot of friends. We'll have a rotating first lady," the lifelong bachelor said in an interview with the Daily Mail about his possible presidency. He suggested his sister could fill the role.

 

Graham "was always the person you hoped you sat next to at a dinner party. Charming, very, very, very funny -- like so funny he truly could have had a career in stand up comedy," said Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Arizona senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee.

 

Graham carried his views about the use of U.S. power into the Trump era, even as a wing of his Republican Party grew deeply skeptical of U.S. involvement in conflicts overseas.

 

In an interview with the Journal late last year, he credited Trump with making the U.S. safer, citing his decision to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, take on narcotics traffickers and press NATO allies to spend more on the common defense.

 

It was an example of Graham's ability to steer public policy by using flattery and handing out credit to powerful people. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who was close to Graham, once joked that the South Carolina senator was able to get Trump to listen to him because "he consistently loses at golf when he plays the president."

 

Graham had a moderate streak on immigration, joining a bipartisan effort in 2013 on a broad overhaul that passed the Senate but failed to gain support in the more conservative House. He tried repeatedly to effect policies giving Dreamers -- the immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children -- a pathway to citizenship, and almost succeeded during Trump's first term before hard-liners helped blow up the effort in a dramatic meeting at the White House.

 

But Graham also staked out increasingly partisan positions as Trump's MAGA movement gained a firmer grip. In 2018, while serving as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Graham launched a fiery defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who faced an allegation of sexual misconduct during his confirmation process. He later said the episode caused him to abandon a practice of supporting Democratic nominees.

 

The senator appeared to break with Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, declaring on the Senate floor, "Count me out. Enough is enough." But the rupture was short-lived. Four months later, he acknowledged Trump's continued hold over the Republican Party.

 

"Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no," Graham said. "I've determined we can't grow without him."

 

Even after he rebuilt ties to Trump, some MAGA voters remained skeptical of Graham, and he was regularly booed at events with the president. Some critics said he simply realized he needed to back Trump to remain relevant in GOP circles. Yet senior administration officials cared about Graham's views -- as a gauge of how their positions were being received by the hawkish Republican contingent in Congress, and as a signal of the advice the senator was giving Trump.

 

At the time of his death, Graham chaired the Senate Budget Committee and remained a regular presence on news programs. He had been scheduled to appear Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

 

Graham criticized Zelensky after the Ukrainian leader's tough meeting at the White House early in Trump's second term. But he had been a relatively consistent supporter of the country's fight against Russia and an advocate of tougher pressure on Moscow -- through a period in which some high-ranking U.S. officials, including Trump himself, have questioned support for Kyiv.

 

On Friday, Graham was in the Ukrainian capital, where he met with Zelensky on his 10th visit to the country. The senator pressed for stronger air defenses and said the White House had agreed to support a version of his Russia sanctions legislation.

 

Graham was up for re-election this year for a seat that has been solidly Republican for years. Last month, he defeated Republican primary challengers.

 

Former President Joe Biden had been close to Graham while serving in the Senate before a public break in 2021 over Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden said on Sunday that while they "disagreed often, and sometimes loudly," he and Graham "did agree on the profound importance of public service."” [1]

 

As a rule, splitting aorta happens when stress causes sudden jump of blood pressure. It is tough to try to pull both Israel and Mr. Zelensky out of the predicament.

 

1. Obituary: Sen. Graham, GOP Stalwart, Dies at 71 --- Trump ally backed tough action against Iran, had longtime support for Israel. Hughes, Siobhan; Bergengruen, Vera; Leary, Alex.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 13 July 2026: A1.