WASHINGTON, D.C. — (BrooklandNews.com) — Jul. 12, 2026 — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died Saturday night after what his office described as a brief and sudden illness. He was 71.
A spokesperson for Graham’s office released a statement early Sunday saying the senator’s family is asking for privacy “during this incredibly difficult period” and thanked the public for their prayers.
Graham had returned Friday from a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He had been scheduled to appear Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
First elected to the Senate in 2002, Graham represented South Carolina for more than two decades and chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2021. He was widely regarded as one of the Senate’s leading voices on foreign policy, pushing an interventionist stance on Ukraine, Iran and Israel.
Graham, who was initially a critic of President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, became one of Trump’s closest allies in the Senate in the years that followed.
He is survived by his sister, Darline Graham Nordone. Graham never married and had no children.
This is a developing story.