Lindsey Graham, longtime GOP senator and Trump ally, dies at 71 after sudden illness

By Karina Tsui, Kara Fox, CNN

(CNN) — US Sen. Lindsey Graham, the longtime Republican from South Carolina and ally of President Donald Trump, has died “from a brief and sudden illness,” a spokesperson for his office told CNN.

Graham served in the US Senate for over two decades, making a name for himself as a foreign policy hawk who advocated for military intervention in Iran and Iraq and was a leading voice for the unwavering US support for Israel and Ukraine. His political career was intrinsically connected to his close relationship to two giants in the Republican Party: first with the late-Sen. John McCain of Arizona and then with Trump, whom he was initially critical of before becoming one of his most outspoken advisers.

Dispatch audio obtained and reviewed by CNN reveals emergency crews responded to a “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s residence Saturday evening.

He died shortly after returning from a visit to Ukraine – one of many he made after the Russian invasion in 2022.

First elected to the US Senate in 2002, Graham was running for a fifth term in this fall’s midterm elections. He turned 71 last week.

Graham began his political career in the early 90s after serving as a city and county attorney in South Carolina. He served in the US Air Force as a prosecutor and defense attorney for six years prior to that.

His early life was marked by the deaths of his mother and father within 15 months of each other when he was an undergraduate. Graham helped raise his then 13-year-old sister, Darline, and later adopted her.

A Trump critic turned Trump ally

Graham briefly ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2015. During the 2016 GOP primary Graham was one of Trump’s fiercest Republican objectors, calling him the “most flawed nominee in the history of the Republican Party,” warning that nominating Trump would doom the party and in the general election refused to vote for him.

That changed after a March 2017 meeting with the newly inaugurated Trump, with Graham becoming a vocal ally – and by Trump’s second term, Graham became one of his most trusted voices in the Senate, calling himself at one point, the president’s “North Star.”

Graham has served as the chairman of the highly influential Senate Judiciary Committee and the Budget Committee, though he was perhaps most known as a foreign policy hawk.

Trump paid tribute to Graham in post on his Truth Social platform early Sunday.

“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!” the president wrote.

Graham’s spokesperson did not disclose further details about the senator’s illness.

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

Tributes from lawmakers and international allies who worked closely with the Republican senator began pouring in the hours following the announcement of his death.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune praised Graham’s decades of military and public service and his belief in “the might of America to achieve good in the world.” “His influence on the federal judiciary, our national defense, and his beloved South Carolina will be felt for generations,” Thune said in a statement.

Legacy of support for Israel and Ukraine

On foreign policy, Graham was an interventionist, with Israel, Iran, Iraq and Ukraine forming the backbone of that reputation.

Graham was one of Israel’s staunchest defenders in Congress, championing billions in security aid and making multiple trips to the region after October 7, with Netanyahu repeatedly calling him the country’s best friend in Washington.

Israeli leaders were among the first foreign officials to praise Graham’s legacy, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Israel had lost “one of its greatest friends.”

“Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable,” he said.

On Iran, Graham was consistently the Senate’s most aggressive voice, opposing the 2015 nuclear deal, calling for preemptive strikes as early as 2010. At the start of the February 2026 war with Iran, he backed the US-Israel bombing campaign while comparing the regime to Nazi Germany.

Graham was one of the Senate’s most persistent advocates for continued US military aid to Ukraine, making repeated trips to Kyiv throughout the war, with his tenth shortly before his death.

The senator was a staunch supporter of arming Ukraine and applying sanctions against Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he met with Graham twice over the past week, said he was “deeply saddened” by the news.

“Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” he said, adding that Ukraine will “always be especially grateful for the recognition of our people and words of admiration for the courage of Ukraine’s defenders.”

Graham backed the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and became one of thee war’s most vocal defenders in the Senate, pushing hard for the 2007 troop surge, and even serving brief reserve stints in Iraq to make his case firsthand. He later warned that withdrawing troops too soon would let Iraq “go to hell.”

Graham applied that conviction to Afghanistan – where he also deployed as a sitting member of Congress – opposing a full troop withdrawal from the US’s 20-year war, warning that the Biden administration was “paving the way for another 9/11.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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CNN’s Jedd Rosche, Matthew Rehbein, Lauren Fox, Tim Lister and Diego Mendoza contributed to this report.