‘Fire and humor.’ Meghan McCain family remembers Lindsey Graham
Meghan McCain paid tribute to Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close family friend and longtime ally of her late father, Arizona Sen. John McCain, after the South Carolina Republican died on July 11 at age 71.
Graham was close to the famed McCain family through his decades-long friendship with John McCain, Meghan McCain wrote in a post on X after his death was announced. Graham, John McCain, and late Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman traveled and worked alongside one another in the Senate and shared holidays as a group they called the “Three Amigos,” she said.
She described Graham as the group’s “fire and humor” and remembered him as an entertaining storyteller who loved people.
Meghan McCain said she first met Graham when she was 11 in a hotel lobby after he attended a political event with her father. Graham sat beside her and told her he loved John McCain, she wrote.
Graham also remained a source of support for her mother, Cindy McCain, after John McCain died in 2018, Meghan McCain said.
“Like many relationships in life, mine with Lindsey was complex in later years. I choose to remember the endless laughter and joy he brought to my family so many times, in so many ways,” Meghan McCain wrote.
Preliminary findings reveal Sen. Lindsey Graham’s cause of death
Graham died after a “brief and sudden illness,” according to a statement from his office. Preliminary findings found Graham died from a tear in his main artery caused by hardened arteries, his communications director, Taylor Reidy, confirmed to USA TODAY.
Emergency responders were sent to Graham’s Capitol Hill home in Washington, DC, at about 8:30 p.m. local time after reports of chest pain, and about 20 minutes later, crews reported performing CPR on a man in apparent cardiac arrest, according to emergency responders.
Graham served more than three decades in Congress and became known for his work on foreign policy and national security.
An Air Force veteran and former South Carolina legislator, Graham won election to the U.S. House in 1994. Voters sent him to the Senate in 2002.
Graham became a leading Senate advocate for an active U.S. military role abroad. He strongly backed Israel, pressed for continued support of Ukraine, and frequently spoke of threats from Iran.
Before his death, Graham made his 10th visit to Ukraine, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss continued U.S. support for the country’s war with Russia, according to a July 10 X post from Zelenskyy.
‘The closest of friends’
Graham and John McCain bonded over national security, immigration, and a shared sense of humor. John McCain once jokingly called Graham his “illegitimate son” because the two men aligned so closely on policy issues, The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported in 2015.
Over time, they built one of the Senate’s closest friendships, The Republic reported in 2017.
“He is loyal to his friends, he loves his country, and if he has to stand up to his party for his country, so be it,” Graham said of John McCain. “I love him to death.”
John McCain said they grew close during former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, when Graham served in the House.
The alliance also shaped John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Graham joined him on the trail in South Carolina and argued that John McCain’s military experience made him the right leader during the Iraq war, according to reporting by The Republic.
John McCain returned that loyalty in 2014, telling The Republic he would support Graham for president because they were “the closest of friends.” He also called Graham “as experienced and knowledgeable as anybody in America” on national security.
The friendship endured through John McCain’s fatal illness. Graham visited him in Arizona in early 2018 as he underwent treatment for glioblastoma, The Republic reported.
“We laughed a little bit. We cried a little bit,” Graham said after the visit.
Contributing: Dan Nowicki, The Arizona Republic; USA TODAY
Rey Covarrubias Jr. is a reporter for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Email him at: rcovarrubias@azcentral.com, and connect with him on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and X (formerly Twitter) at @ReyCJrAZ.
