Vice President JD Vance remembered Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday as a joyful fighter who could tear into a colleague at lunch, then quietly help him before dinner.
Vance delivered the tribute beneath the Capitol Rotunda as Graham’s family, friends and fellow lawmakers gathered to mourn the South Carolina Republican.
Graham died July 11 at his Washington home, two days after turning 71. Preliminary medical findings identified an aortic dissection caused by cardiovascular disease.
“I know so many of you loved Lindsey like I did,” Vance told Graham’s family and staff. “So many of you argued with Lindsey, laughed with Lindsey, relied on Lindsey.”
Vance said Graham’s difficult childhood helped shape his fascination with people from every corner of American life.
“Lindsey Graham loved people from all walks of life,” Vance said. “I think in part because of the way that he grew up, because of the fact that he wasn’t handed everything.”
Graham’s parents died when he was a young man, leaving him to help raise his younger sister, Darline. He went on to serve in the Air Force and represent South Carolina in Congress for more than three decades.
Vance said Graham treated Senate leaders, dining-room workers and newly hired staffers with the same curiosity.
“He treated everybody the same because he was fascinated and he loved every single person in this chamber,” Vance said.
The vice president also recalled Graham’s “world-class sense of humor” during Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign.
Before a Fox News appearance, Vance asked Graham to mention his campaign website.
“Over a four-minute interview, he must have mentioned JDVance.com close to a dozen times,” Vance said.
“The host would ask, ‘How was the weather?’ And Lindsey would say, ‘Well before I check the weather, I always go to JDVance.com.’”
The performance raised more than $100,000 for Vance’s campaign.
Vance then told a story that captured Graham’s loyalty better than any formal résumé.
The two senators once had a furious argument over Ukraine funding. Vance assumed the dispute would cost him Graham’s support on separate rail legislation.
Instead, Vance discovered that Graham had become the bill’s “fiercest advocate” behind closed doors.
“I went to Lindsey and I said, ‘Why are you helping me?’” Vance recalled.
Graham’s answer was pure Lindsey.
“Well, I don’t care about it, but you do.”
“That was the kind of colleague he could be,” Vance said. “A person you argued with and fought with in one minute but behind the scenes, without collecting an ounce of credit, was working for you and working for the things that you cared about in the next.”
Vance also credited Graham with saving Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation. Graham delivered a furious defense of the nominee during a bitter 2018 hearing and worked to persuade wavering senators.
“I believe he saved that nomination,” Vance said.
Graham was later honored at Washington National Cathedral. His memorial events continue Wednesday in South Carolina, according to his Senate office.
“I choose to remember Lindsey Graham as a man who could disagree with you without being disagreeable,” Vance said.
He closed with a final farewell.
“May God rest the soul of Senator Lindsey Graham, a true American original.”
Watch Vance’s remarks above.
