Tributes poured in from across the world on Sunday for Senator Lindsey Graham, the longtime U.S. lawmaker and foreign policy hawk who died unexpectedly at age 71.
“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” President Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”
Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. served with Mr. Graham in Congress for over a decade. While noting their disagreements, he said in a social media post that they agreed “on the profound importance of public service.” He added, “Like me, he loved the Senate as an institution, even with all its flaws and complexities.”
Mr. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, died on Saturday after a “brief and sudden illness,” his office said. Once one of Mr. Trump’s harshest critics, Mr. Graham had refashioned himself in recent years as one of the president’s most devoted backers.
Across Mr. Graham’s many political lives, his unyielding endorsement of American military intervention was perhaps his most consistent cause. Most recently, Mr. Graham carried the torch for the U.S. war against Iran and encouraged aggressive support for Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he had met with Mr. Graham just last week in Kyiv and was “deeply saddened” by his death.
“Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Mr. Zelensky said in a social media post, adding that Mr. Graham had visited Ukraine 10 times since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
“We remained in constant dialogue, and I will miss our conversations. We met twice in just the past week.”
Representative Mike McCaul of Texas, chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and another Republican foreign policy hawk, said he and Mr. Graham were planning to introduce a sanctions bill this week against Russia, which they had been working on for a year. Mr. McCaul was speaking from Poland after his Friday visit to Ukraine. “We owe it to Lindsey Graham to pass that tough Russian sanctions bill,” Mr. McCaul said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Mr. Graham’s firm defense of NATO was one of his rare breaks with Mr. Trump, who has long been critical of the alliance. Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary general, said he was “so sad to learn of the sudden passing of my friend,” Mr. Graham.
“He was a powerful advocate for America who believed strongly in the NATO Alliance and was actively working to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Mr. Rutte said on social media.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada also applauded Mr. Graham’s work at home and overseas.
“Throughout his career, he stood resolutely in defence of democracy and freedom, most recently and particularly with Ukraine and its people,” Mr. Carney said.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany called Mr. Graham “a true friend and partner of Germany” and added: “We stood side by side for more than four decades.”
Mr. Graham was also a staunch defender of Israel, making numerous visits to that country. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called him “a beloved friend.”
“Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a post on X. “He devoted his life to defending America, strengthening our alliance and standing up for the free world.”
American lawmakers from both sides of the aisle also shared their remembrances of Mr. Graham on Sunday morning.
Tim Scott, the junior senator from South Carolina, said Mr. Graham had proved wrong the cynical saying on Capitol Hill: “If you want a friend in Washington, D.C., buy a dog.”
Mr. Graham, he said, was “one of only three or four senators” he had invited to his wedding in August 2024 because his fellow South Carolinian “had become part of the family.” “It’s a rare thing in politics,” Mr. Scott said.
On ABC, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, said he had had dinner with Mr. Graham last week in Ankara, Turkey on Mr. Graham’s 71st birthday. Mr. Coons recalled his intense political battles with Mr. Graham even as he remembered him fondly. “We had knock-down, drag-out fights,” he said.
He pointed to the confirmation process for Brett M. Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court as “exceptionally ugly” and said “there were other things he did I really, really disagreed with and thought were bad choices and violated our shared values. But I also saw him in his best moments, fighting fiercely for the underdog in America.”
Mr. Graham shared a decades-long friendship with Senator John McCain of Arizona, a fellow Republican who also pushed for an interventionist U.S. foreign policy. Mr. McCain died in 2018.
“From the time he met my Dad they were fast friends and political comrades,” Mr. McCain’s daughter Megan McCain wrote on X, recalling his “acerbic quick wit” and fondness for storytelling.
“He was literally never, ever boring,” she said.
Mr. Graham’s reinvention, in what would be the twilight of his career, as one of Mr. Trump’s fiercest defenders was jarring to those who regarded him as one of the Senate’s more likable firebrands, one who seemingly relished the bipartisan sparring of Washington.
Even among those with whom he often vehemently disagreed, he was remembered fondly.
Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, reflected on the work he had done with Mr. Graham over the years.
“When he was aligned, when he would be in the right place at the right time, man, he can get things done that other people couldn’t and bring a lot of light and new possibilities to the efforts,” Mr. Booker said in a tribute.
He added, “I will miss my perhaps most unexpected friend in the Senate and someone with whom I got some good things done.”
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia and a longtime colleague of Mr. Graham on national security issues, said he was “heartbroken” over the death of Mr. Graham, whom he called a “friend.”
“Lindsey and I disagreed on plenty over the years, but I never doubted his love for this country or his commitment to serving it,” Mr. Warner said. “Even in the toughest moments, he never lost his ability to connect with people, and those personal relationships often mattered more to him than the political disagreements of the day.”
In a lengthy tribute, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, recalled Mr. Graham’s dedication to causes including working with her to help Afghan refugees.
“Lindsey was loyal to friends and causes,” she shared on social media. “He was willing to work on gnarly issues and take on (at times) political risks for the right reasons. It is fitting that he died shortly after visiting Ukraine, one of those causes he would stand up for through thick and thin.”
Mr. Graham, who served as a lawyer in the U.S. Air Force before entering politics in the early 1980s, was scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday morning. It would have been his 64th appearance on the program, its moderator, Kristen Welker, said.
Minho Kim and Camille Baker contributed reporting.