Washington, July 12 (IANS) US Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina) and a staunch supporter of US President Donald Trump, has died after a "brief and sudden illness" on Saturday evening (local time), his office announced on Sunday. He was 71.

"Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period," the office said.

Graham was elected to the United States Senate in 2002 and was re-elected in 2008, 2014, and 2020. He became the first person in South Carolina history to receive over one million votes in the 2008 general election.

He served as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Graham also served as a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

In 2015, Graham briefly ran for the Republican nomination for President. During the Republican Party primary in 2016, Graham was one of Trump’s critics, calling him the "most flawed nominee in the history of the Republican Party" warning that nominating Trump would doom the party and refusing to vote for him in the general election, CNN reported.

However, after his meeting with Trump in 2017 and by Trump's second term, Graham became one of the US President's trusted voices in the Senate, describing himself at one point as the president's "North Star", it added.

Graham was born in Central, Pickens County, in South Carolina on July 9, 1955. Before serving in the Senate, he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994 as the first Republican from the Third Congressional District of South Carolina since 1877, according to the official statement.

Prior to being elected to Congress, Graham had a distinguished record in the United States Air Force as he logged six-and-a-half years of service on active duty as an Air Force lawyer. From 1984-1988, he was assigned overseas and served at Rhein-Main Air Force Base in Germany. After leaving active duty in the Air Force in 1989, Graham joined the South Carolina Air National Guard, where he served till 1995. During the first Gulf War in the early 1990s, he was called to active duty and served stateside at McEntire Air National Guard Base as Staff Judge Advocate, where he prepared members for deployment to the Gulf region, according to the official statement.

In 1995, Graham joined the US Air Force Reserves. During American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Graham used his experience in military law to perform numerous short-term Reserve duties in both nations over congressional breaks and holidays. In 2015, he retired from the Air Force Reserves, having served the US country in uniform for 33 years. He had attained the rank of Colonel.

--IANS

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