Lindsay Graham, the South Carolina Republican known for his penchant for U.S. interventionism, his key role in shaping Donald Trump 's Supreme Court, and as a staunch ally of the Republican leader, has died. He was 71.
The four-time senator died of "a brief and sudden illness," his office said in a statement early Sunday, giving no further details about where he died or the cause. According to police scanner audio obtained by NBC News, emergency personnel responded to a call for "cardiac arrest" at his Capitol Hill home on Saturday night.
© Getty ImagesReactions and Graham's last days
Graham, who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, before winning his Senate seat in 2002, had only just returned Saturday from a trip to Ukraine.
He had been scheduled to appear on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday morning. Host Kristen Welker shared that Trump as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would appear to honor Graham, a stalwart ally of Israel.
© Getty ImagesIn a statement on Truth Social, Trump shared of Graham — who in a 2015 CNN interview said we would "make America great again" by telling Trump to "go to hell," before becoming his supporter — that he was "one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known."
"He was always working, and was a true American Patriot," he added. "Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!"
© Getty ImagesGraham's personal life and why he never married
Graham was famously single for the entirety of his political career, and rumors about his sexuality and alleged dalliances in D.C. followed him, but he remained private about his personal life.
In his 2015 self-published memoir, My Story, he wrote: "I've never married. I guess I attribute that to timing, too," adding: "The opportunity never presented itself at the right time, or I never found time to meet the right girl, or the right girl was smart enough not to have time for me."
He did however write about his previous romances, among them Debbie, his law school girlfriend, and two more women he dated during his time in the Air Force in Germany, Carol, a JAG officer who went on to serve on Colin Powell's staff, and Sylvia, a Lufthansa flight attendant.
"I haven't been lucky that way," he nonetheless wrote of not finding a wife, though maintained: "But I have a family."
© Getty ImagesGraham's surviving family
Graham grew up part of a working class family in Central, South Carolina, his parents being owners of a bar he grew up working in and, as he recalled in his memoir, they also lived in the rooms behind the bar for a time, before eventually moving into a trailer and then into a house next door.
He was 20 years old and his sister Darline 11 when their mother died, followed by their father 15 months later, after which Graham adopted his sister so she could receive his military benefits. She is his only immediate survivor.
