Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina died late on July 11 Eastern time due to a heart attack caused by arteriosclerosis. He was 71 years old.
Graham was once a public critic of President Trump but later became one of his most loyal allies.
According to reports, on July 12 Eastern time, Trump said in an interview that he had just spoken with Graham on the phone “minutes” before his heart attack, ruling out any foul play. He believes it was a sudden illness—his heart just gave out.
Trump also mentioned that Graham had just returned from Ukraine and “sounded a bit tired.” Meanwhile, the White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff across the nation in his honor.
Graham had no known long-term chronic health conditions. Public records don’t show any history of high blood pressure, diabetes, or other chronic illnesses, nor any reports of extended sick leave or hospital stays.
According to preliminary findings from the Washington medical examiner’s office, his cause of death was “aortic dissection due to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.” Aortic dissection is a life-threatening emergency where the wall of the aorta tears.
Graham grew up in a working-class family in South Carolina, where his parents ran a restaurant and pool hall. He was the first in his family to attend college, earning both his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of South Carolina. After building a resume in the U.S. Air Force, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994, then to the Senate in 2002, winning re-election in 2008, 2014, and 2020.
Though he called himself a Reagan-style conservative, he often pushed for military intervention abroad and strongly opposed budget cuts targeting defense spending. Establishment figures and allies praised him as “strong on defense and truly patriotic.”
Besides his shifting stance on Trump, this defense hawk firmly supported Israel and Ukraine during his life, while opposing Iran. Critics even labeled him a “warmonger” who prioritized the interests of the military-industrial complex over people’s welfare.
Public records show that during the 2015-2016 election cycle, Graham received far more donations from defense-related donors than the average Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. He consistently backed nearly all major U.S. overseas military operations and repeatedly pushed for big increases in defense spending.
The “2025 Sanctions on Russia Act,” which he drafted, proposed tariffs of at least 500% on Russian goods—a move many U.S. experts warned could trigger an economic disaster for America itself.
In February 2024, Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service added Graham to its “list of terrorists and extremists,” sparking a highly controversial diplomatic incident on the world stage.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Graham visited the country at least 10 times. His last trip was on July 10 of this year.
That day, in Kyiv, he discussed Ukraine’s urgent need for air defense capabilities and new sanctions against Russia with President Zelensky. He also toured the drone production facility of Ukrainian defense company SkyFall.
Graham once publicly claimed that the Iranian regime was on its last legs, suggesting that overthrowing it would let the U.S. control plenty of Middle Eastern oil. He repeatedly lobbied the Trump administration to step up military action against Iran. But events have proven that was a huge miscalculation by the U.S. military and intelligence communities.
After the midterm elections expected later this year, the Republicans’ narrow majority in the Senate could shrink even more. Graham’s death will likely slow down the Trump administration’s push on key agenda items like personnel appointments.