Lindsey Graham, long-time Republican senator and Trump ally, dies at 71

Washington: Lindsey Graham, a long-time Republican senator from South Carolina, died on Saturday night (US time), his office said in a statement early on Sunday morning.

“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, US Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” according to the statement.

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

Graham, who was first elected to the House in 1994 and the Senate in 2002, was running for re-election this year.

He had been a staunch ally of US President Donald Trump on most matters but had broken with the president on some issues, such as foreign policy.

“He’s outstanding. He’s been at my side for a long time,” Trump said in a tele-rally for Graham last month, acknowledging that the two men had duelled for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

“After that fight was over, we were best of friends, and he’s helped me as much as anybody in the Senate.”

Republican South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said in a statement that Graham was “the fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America – and a loyal and steadfast friend”.

Under South Carolina law, McMaster can make an immediate appointment to fill Graham’s seat.

Graham, whose birthday was on Thursday, recently returned from Ukraine after meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Graham told reporters in Kyiv on Friday that a bipartisan group of senators had reached an agreement with the White House to impose new sanctions on Russia in an effort to end that country’s long-running war with Ukraine.

Emergency medical responders worked to stabilise a man at Graham’s home on Saturday night and transport him to a hospital, according to police scanner audio obtained by The Washington Post and eyewitnesses.

Emergency medical services received a call at about 8.30pm for a person suffering chest pains at a Capitol Hill home owned by Graham, according to the audio. About 25 minutes later, emergency personnel said that CPR was in progress and that a man at the house was suffering from cardiac arrest.

A person who lives on Graham’s street shared photos of an older man being taken from Graham’s home by wheeled stretcher and loaded into an ambulance around 9.30pm. The man was then taken to George Washington University Hospital.

Graham’s death narrows Republicans’ majority in the Senate, where they had held a 53-47 edge but were already facing the expected absence of one member.

The office of Republican Senator Mitch McConnell has said the 84-year-old lawmaker has been hospitalised since last month but has shared few other updates on his condition.

The Washington Post

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