Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is being laid to rest this week in a two-day series of funeral services spanning Washington, D.C., and his native South Carolina, following his sudden death on July 11 at age 71.
Graham, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, died after emergency responders were called to his Capitol Hill home for cardiac arrest; a medical examiner later attributed his death to an aortic dissection. He had just returned from a trip to Kyiv, where he’d met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and had been scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” the following morning. President Trump, who said he’d spoken with Graham hours before his death and considered him like family, is expected to deliver remarks at Tuesday’s service at Washington National Cathedral, following an earlier ceremony at the U.S. Capitol honoring his military and Senate career.
A second round of services will take place Wednesday in Columbia, South Carolina, including a procession with an F-16 flyover before Graham’s remains are brought to First Baptist Church of Columbia, followed by a private family burial in Pickens County, where he and his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, were born and raised. Nordone has since been appointed to serve out the remainder of his term and has announced she’ll run for a full term herself in November.
Graham spent more than three decades in Congress, building a reputation as one of the Senate’s most influential voices on defense and foreign policy and a close ally of the late Sen. John McCain.