Lindsey Graham, pivotal US Republican senator, dies suddenly at 71

[WASHINGTON] US Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Republican who went from a vocal critic of Donald Trump to one of his most loyal allies on Capitol Hill after Trump became president, has died at age 71.

The South Carolina lawmaker died after a “brief and sudden illness”, his office posted on X early on Sunday (Jul 12). NBC News said emergency personnel had responded to a call for cardiac arrest at his Capitol Hill home on Saturday night.

Shortly after his death was announced, Trump called Graham “one of the greatest people and senators I have known” and a hard-working patriot.

After Trump declined to commit in October 2016 to accepting the outcome of the US election if he lost, Graham said: “If he loses, it will not be because the system is ‘rigged’ but because he failed as a candidate.”

Later, after becoming a staunch supporter, Graham publicly disagreed with Trump’s early 2025 decision to pardon about 1,500 of the president’s supporters who attacked the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, saying it could lead to more violence.

A defence hawk, Graham “consistently pushed for outcomes in the War on Terror that protect our long-term national security interests”, his website said.

Graham, a former Republican presidential candidate, was a prominent supporter of Israel and Ukraine and opponent of Iran.

Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz posted on X that he was deeply saddened by the death of Graham, “who stood with Israel at its most difficult moments”.

On Friday, Graham said China could ​play a decisive role in pressuring Russia towards peace talks, helping end its war in ‌Ukraine.

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Graham, a frequent visitor to Ukraine, met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv. They discussed Ukraine’s air defence ​needs and a Russian sanctions bill, Zelenskiy said.

Graham said bolstering Ukraine’s military capabilities and aligning ​sanctions with a diplomatic push could force Moscow into talks.

“The road to ending this ⁠war, the road to peace, passes through Beijing more than it does (through) Washington, Kyiv or Moscow,” Graham told ​reporters at Kyiv’s Mykhailivska Square. “China has ​an oversized influence. I’d like them to use their influence for the good of the world.

“I don’t believe (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is there yet, but it wouldn’t take much to get him there.”

Graham recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Graham was elected to the US Senate in 2002. Before that, he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994 for South Carolina’s 3rd congressional district, according to his website.

He was not married and lived in Seneca, South Carolina. REUTERS