NEWS / Senator Lindsey Graham’s death certificate pending as medical examiner releases preliminary findings

The death certificate of United States Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from the State of South Carolina, is still pending, although the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner released a preliminary report indicating that the death was caused by “aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease”.

Senator Graham was pronounced dead on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC.

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which issued the preliminary report, stressed that the findings are not final, Fox News reports.

According to officials, comprehensive toxicological and microscopic testing is expected to be conducted before a death certificate can be issued, as this is standard practice in the District of Columbia.

According to the Mayo Clinic, an aortic dissection is a “medical emergency in which a tear happens in the inner layer of the body’s main artery,” the aorta, which pumps blood out of the heart. Arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease refers to the buildup of plaque inside arteries.

Having served in the United States Air Force between 1982 and 1989, Lindsey Graham became the Air Force’s chief prosecutor in Europe as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Graham served as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives between 1992 and 1994, when he ran and was successfully elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from the State of South Carolina.

Taking office in 1995, Graham voted against settling a budget standoff in 1995, challenged incumbent Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997, voted for articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton in 1998, and voted in favor the Patriot Act and the War on Terror in 2001, as well as the Iraq resolution in 2002.

In 2002, Graham ran to succeed long-term Dixiecrat and Republican Senator Strom Thurmond. Taking office as a United States Senator from South Carolina in 2003, Graham became known as a war hawk often actively participating in debates on immigration and national security. Together with the late Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, he was highly supportive of Israel and critical of Russia.

In 2015, Graham sought the 2016 Republican presidential nomination but withdrew before primaries began. He was highly critical of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, calling him “a jackass” for doubting John McCain’s war hero status, with Trump responding by calling Graham an “idiot” and revealing Graham’s personal cellphone number. The Senator admitted that he did not vote for Donald Trump in the November 2016 election.

With Trump taking office as president in 2017, however, their relationship drastically changed, with Graham become a vocal ally of the new commander-in-chief. He served on the Senate Judiciary Committee between 2019 and 2021, the Senate Budget Committee between 2021 and 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee between 2023 and 2025, and the Senate Budget Committee again between 2025 and his death. With the start the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022, he backed numerous sanctions against Russia initiated by both President Joe Biden in 2022-2025 and President Donald Trump (in his second term) in 2025-2026.

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