Prominent US Senator Lindsey Graham has died at the age of 71 following a heart attack at his home on Capitol Hill in Washington. According to information that has emerged, the senator from South Carolina passed away after a brief sudden illness.
Graham had transformed from an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump into one of his closest allies. While the race to fill Graham's seat is not expected to affect the broader Republican-Democratic battle for control of the Senate in November, given that South Carolina is a Republican stronghold.
His death could deprive Trump of a reliable vote in the Senate at a time when the president is seeking to advance his agenda in the sharply divided chamber. Commenting on the loss of his ally, Trump told NBC: "His loss is hard... He was great... He was one of a kind in every sense of the word." Trump described him as one of the greatest people and senators he had ever known, praising him as a hardworking patriot.
Lindsey Graham was born on 9 July 1955 in the city of Central in South Carolina. He obtained a law degree before joining the United States Air Force, where he served as a military lawyer and as an Air Force prosecutor in Europe between 1984 and 1988, before moving into private legal practice.
Graham entered political life in the 1990s, winning election to the South Carolina state House of Representatives and then to the US House of Representatives, before becoming a member of the Senate in 2003. He later emerged as one of the most prominent and influential Republican figures on foreign policy and defence issues.