Senators, foreign leaders, and the president of the United States gathered in Washington on Tuesday to honor Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who spent more than three decades at the center of American politics before his sudden death on July 11 at age 71.
Graham’s remains arrived at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda Tuesday morning, where an Armed Forces Body Bearer Team carried his casket in recognition of his Air Force service. Vice President JD Vance delivered remarks. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who had known Graham for years as both colleague and friend, described the gathering as a final farewell to someone who shaped the Senate.
“For so many of us in the Senate and the House, myself included, Lindsey was more than a colleague, he was a friend,” Thune said.
A funeral service was held later in the day at Washington National Cathedral. President Trump delivered remarks. Fox News host Sean Hannity and pro-life leaders Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America also participated. The Rev. William Franklin Graham III, son of the late Billy Graham, was among the officiants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy both attended, a reflection of Graham’s long-standing role as one of Washington’s most committed voices on national security and the importance of American military engagement abroad.
Graham died suddenly at his Washington home from a likely aortic tear, according to preliminary findings. He had just returned from a NATO summit in Turkey and a visit to Ukraine, where days before his death he had secured Trump’s support for a bipartisan sanctions package targeting Russia. The Senate was scheduled Tuesday to hold a first procedural vote on that package, with Zelenskyy present in Washington to meet with senators in the evening.
Graham was first elected to Congress in the 1994 Republican wave, making him one of the first Republicans from his state since Reconstruction. He managed Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the House, won a Senate seat in 2002, and formed a long alliance with Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman on national security matters.
His personal story is one conservatives know well. Both his parents died while he was in college. He became the legal guardian of his younger sister, Darline Graham, then just 13. He credited Social Security for helping them stay afloat financially during that time. He never married.
Graham retired from the Air Force Reserve as a colonel in 2015, having been awarded the Bronze Star for service in 2014.
His sister Darline has been appointed by South Carolina’s governor to fill the remainder of his Senate term. The filing period for the special primary election closed Tuesday, with a vote set for Aug. 11.
