U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Southern Baptist who began supporting Donald Trump after first challenging him for the 2016 presidency, died suddenly July 11 after reportedly suffering an aortic tear at his Washington home.
The 71-year-old had returned hours earlier from a diplomatic meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, and was poised for re-election to a fifth term as the senior senator from South Carolina after winning the Republican primary in June.
His support of Ukraine and Israel under an aggressive foreign policy platform characterized his political service, as did his engagement with the church and God as a Southern Baptist.
Tony Wolfe, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, led the executive staff in praying for Graham’s family July 13.
“Sen. Graham was a consistent and passionate advocate for many of the policies and ideals that South Carolina Baptists prioritize,” Wolfe told Baptist Press. “Following the announcement of his death this weekend, social media teemed with remembrance and gratitude from many of our Convention’s pastors and church leaders. This morning, our executive staff took time to thank God for his service in office, to pray for his friends and family, and to ask for God’s wisdom and favor in the selection of his successor, both immediately by appointment and permanently by election.”
Graham was a member of Corinth Baptist Church in Seneca, S.C., where he was baptized.
“One thing that stands out to me is his love for America,” his pastor Tim Tate said in worship Sunday, July 12. “One thing he always wanted to talk about was his country. The last conversation I had with him just a couple of weeks ago ended in prayer, as I always ended our conversations in prayer. We prayed for wisdom, knowledge and discernment.”
President Trump hailed Graham as “one of the greatest people and senators” he had ever known, tweeting that Graham “was always working, and was a true American patriot. Lindsey,” Trump said, “will be greatly missed.”
Graham had served in the U.S. Senate since 2003. He chaired the Senate Budget Committee and was a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Prior to serving in the Senate, Graham was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as the first Republican from the Third Congressional District of South Carolina since 1877. He was widely loved among Republicans across the state, in 2008 becoming the first candidate to receive more than 1 million votes in a general election, according to his official Senate biography. He served more than six years in the U.S. Air Force as an attorney, and was a veteran of both the South Carolina Air National Guard and the U.S. Air Force Reserves. He retired from the Air Force Reserves in 2015 as a colonel.
Graham was known for his humor, which he displayed while speaking June 28 at First Baptist Church of Columbia, S.C., during the Carolina Celebration of Liberty, this time marking the nation’s semiquincentennial. He mentioned a series on Netflix about the nation’s Founding Fathers and division.
“The only thing we had in common, apparently, is we didn’t want to be governed by a king and after that, nobody could agree on much else. Two-hundred-fifty years later it’s still the same way, right?” Graham said. “Speaking of kings, President Trump said hello,” Graham quipped to laughter and applause. “I told him I was coming here. He said tell everybody in Columbia at the First Baptist Church I love them, and I can’t say anything else he told me because we’re in church.”
Graham made numerous diplomatic trips to Ukraine and Israel, and championed an aggressive response in Iran. Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were among many who expressed condolences on social media.
“Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable,” Netanyahu posted. “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends.”
Zelenskyy said he was “deeply saddened” by Graham’s death, describing the late senator as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.”
O.S. Hawkins, president emeritus of GuideStone Financial Resources, commended Graham’s support for Israel.
Graham’s “unwavering support of Israel was never about politics or policy. He grew up in a Baptist church hearing ‘God will bless those who bless Israel,’” Hawkins tweeted, referencing Genesis 12:3. “And he believed it and never wavered from it.”
Graham grew up in the small town of Central, S.C., as the son of a businessman who owned a bar, restaurant and liquor store, although the business has also been described as a restaurant and pool hall. Both his parents died within months of one another, leaving Graham to care for his 13-year-old sister when he was 21. His sister, Darline Graham Nordone, is among his surviving relatives. On July 13, she was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to serve the rest of the late Republican senator’s term, which ends in early January.
Graham remained a single Christian and childless, which he defended in his 2015 bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
“I think I’m the best prepared to protect this country. I am single like many other people. If you’ve got a good marriage, God bless you. If you’re single, there’s nothing wrong with you,” Graham said in a 2015 interview on “Face the Nation.” “The last time I checked there was nothing in the Constitution or at the White House that said single people need not apply. I’m going to be a ready-to-go commander-in-chief, protect everybody, single people included.”
Graham’s funeral arrangements were pending. While the responding medical examiner said Graham suffered an aortic dissention, routine toxicology results are also pending.
— Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.
