WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the most prominent and powerful foreign policy hawk in Congress, died suddenly Saturday following reported chest pains and cardiac arrest. He was 71.
For more than two decades, Graham championed the peace through American strength abroad, advocating for military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq — and Iran.
He also pushed hard to back Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion — and had just returned from a trip to Kyiv hours before he died.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness. Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” Graham’s office said on X on Sunday morning.
Preliminary findings by the DC medical examiner’s office determined he died of a ruptured aorta brought on by chronic heart disease, the senator’s office said late Sunday. His family has a history of heart disease, including his father, Florence James Graham, who died of a heart attack in his late 60s.
