Hardline supporter of Israel, US Senator Lindsey Graham, passed away on Saturday evening after a brief and sudden illness, the communications director for his office said in a post on Twitter/X early on Sunday.
"Senator Graham's family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period," the statement read.
Emergency personnel responded to a call for “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s home on Saturday night, according to police scanner audio obtained by NBC News.
Photographs reviewed by NBC News showed that paramedics carried a person on a stretcher from Graham’s home to an awaiting ambulance. Police cars and fire trucks were also on site, NBC reported.
Lindsey Graham's recent trip to Kyiv
On Friday, Graham said China could play a decisive role in pressuring Russia towards peace talks, helping end its war in Ukraine. Graham, a frequent visitor to Ukraine, met President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. They discussed Ukraine's air defense needs and a Russian sanctions bill, Zelensky said.
Graham said bolstering Ukraine's military capabilities and aligning sanctions with a diplomatic push could force Moscow into talks.
"The road to ending this war, the road to peace, passes through Beijing more than it does (through) Washington, Kyiv, or Moscow," Graham told reporters at Kyiv's Mykhailivska Square. "China has an oversized influence. I'd like them to use their influence for the good of the world."
"I don't believe (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is there yet, but it wouldn't take much to get him there."
Graham's early life, career, and entrance into politics
Graham, 71, was a prominent Republican senator from South Carolina. Earlier in his career, he was a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump before becoming one of his most loyal allies on Capitol Hill.
Graham was born in 1955 in Central, South Carolina, where his parents ran a restaurant and a pool hall, according to Graham's official website. He was the first member of his family to earn an undergraduate degree. At the time of his death, he was not married and lived in Seneca, South Carolina.
A former Air Force lawyer and member of the South Carolina Air National Guard, Graham was elected to the Senate in 2002. Before that, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 for South Carolina's 3rd congressional district, according to his website.
Graham was re-elected to the Senate in 2008, 2014, and 2020.