Details about Lindsey Graham’s personal life are being discussed after the senator died at the age of 71. While his office said he died “from a brief and sudden illness,” The Washington Post has now revealed that the senator from South Carolina suffered chest pain at his D.C. home after returning from Ukraine, and then went into cardiac arrest, before dying.
Graham’s self-published memoir, My Story, offered a peek into why he never got married. In his autobiography, released in 2015, he talked about his brushes with matrimony and opened up about why he never found a wife.
“I’ve never married. I guess I attribute that to timing, too,” wrote Graham. “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.”
However, Graham did come close. He had a girlfriend, Debbie, in law school, and then two more during his time in the Air Force in Germany, including a JAG officer named Carol who went on to serve on Colin Powell’s staff, and a Lufthansa flight attendant, Sylvia, according to Politico.
Graham wrote that his relationship with Sylvia became “serious quickly” and he considered proposing to her. However, he never did. She eventually returned to Vienna to be with her family and he “was a South Carolina boy who needed to go home.”
“I’ve been close once early on, [as I was] taking care of my sister,” Graham said in the past about not getting married, per Politico. “It’s something I really don’t know the answer to, other than I think it’s OK. At the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong about not being married. Having a marriage and a good family and children is a blessing. But I don’t think I’m a defective person by any means.”
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“I don’t think there’s anything in the Constitution that says single people need not apply for president. And if it bothers some people, then they won’t vote for me. I offer what I offer,” he added.
Graham sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. However, he ended his campaign before voting started.
Lindsey Graham’s death
Graham’s office announced his death in an X post.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement on X. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
President Donald Trump also broke his silence on Graham’s death in a Truth Social post. “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!” Trump wrote.
Graham was initially one of Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics. However, eventually, he became a close ally and frequent defender of the US President.
