Memorial Services for Lindsey Graham Set for July 28 in Washington

A memorial service for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham is scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, in Washington, D.C. Two additional services will be held the next day in Columbia and Pickens County, South Carolina. The senator's office announced the schedule on Wednesday. Graham died suddenly in his Washington home on July 11.

Graham's career Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, died last Saturday at age 71. His death creates an immediate vacancy that Republicans must fill through a primary within one month ahead of November's midterm elections. Graham grew up in a small-town bar and pool hall, became the first in his family to attend college, and later served as a judge advocate general in the air force before entering the House in the 1994 Republican Revolution.

political rise Graham's parents died when he was young, leaving him to care for his younger sister. He later credited social security with helping keep the family afloat during that period. He built a reputation for constituent service and retail politics while replacing Strom Thurmond in the Senate in 2002.

state reaction Graham initially opposed Donald Trump during the 2016 primaries, calling him a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot." He later became one of Trump's most consistent allies and golfing partners.

“There was Lindsey Graham before Donald Trump, and then there was Lindsey Graham after Donald Trump.”

Some South Carolina Republicans described the shift as pragmatic deal-making that delivered benefits for the state rather than a change in principles. On Tuesday, Graham's sister was sworn in to serve the remainder of his unexpired term. Voters and officials expressed a mix of admiration for his constituent work and criticism of his later political choices.