Lindsey Graham Embodied the Republican Party’s Authoritarian Drift

Lindsey Graham’s Political Career Reflected Changing Republican Alignments

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died on Saturday at age 69. Obituaries published in the days after his death offered differing assessments of his record. Some accounts, including segments on NBC’s Meet the Press, emphasized his long service and relationships across party lines. Others focused on his evolution from a close associate of Senator John McCain to a consistent supporter of President Donald Trump after 2018.

A 2020 Rolling Stone profile by Mark Binelli quoted Steve Schmidt, who managed McCain’s 2008 campaign, describing Graham’s pattern of aligning with influential figures. Schmidt compared Graham to a pilot fish that stays near larger predators. The profile traced Graham’s path from the 1990s through his later alignment with Trump.

Graham was first elected to the House in 1994 as part of the Republican gains that year. He defeated the incumbent in a district that had become more Republican-leaning. In the House, Graham served as one of the managers in the 1998 impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton, focusing on the charge that Clinton had lied under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Graham entered the Senate in 2003 after winning the seat held by retiring Senator Strom Thurmond. He supported the 2002 authorization for the use of military force in Iraq shortly after taking office. Along with McCain and Senator Joe Lieberman, Graham formed a group often described as the “Three Amigos” that advocated for assertive U.S. foreign policy positions in the years after the September 11 attacks.

Graham ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 but ended his campaign before the primaries began. During the 2016 cycle he publicly criticized Trump, using terms such as “kook” and “jackass” and warning that Trump’s nomination would damage the party. After McCain’s death in 2018, Graham’s public stance shifted. He became one of Trump’s more reliable Senate allies on issues including judicial nominations and foreign policy.

Graham’s record included both partisan and cross-aisle activity. He worked with Democrats on criminal justice legislation in the late 2010s and participated in multiple failed attempts at comprehensive immigration reform. At the same time, he consistently supported higher defense spending and sanctions measures targeting adversaries such as Russia and Iran. On the day before his death, Graham reportedly declined immediate medical attention because he wished to appear on Meet the Press to discuss a recent trip to Ukraine and related sanctions legislation.

Political scientists have documented increasing partisan polarization in Congress over the past three decades. Measures such as DW-Nominate scores show both parties moving away from the ideological center, with fewer members occupying the moderate space that existed in earlier decades. Graham’s career coincided with these trends. He remained in office through the Republican-led House under Speaker Newt Gingrich, the post-9/11 period of unified Republican government, the Obama years marked by frequent legislative conflict, and the Trump administration.

Graham never mounted a sustained independent power base within the Senate. His influence derived primarily from committee work on armed services and judiciary matters and from relationships with successive Republican leaders. After Trump left office, Graham continued to serve in the Senate and maintained a public profile on foreign policy questions.

Observers differ on whether Graham’s post-2018 alignment represented a departure from earlier positions or a continuation of his preference for proximity to whichever Republican held the presidency. Similar patterns of adaptation have appeared among members of both parties during periods of shifting internal coalitions. Graham’s legislative output remained focused on defense authorizations, sanctions packages, and occasional bipartisan initiatives rather than originating major new policy frameworks.

His death removes one of the longer-serving members of the Senate at a time when both parties continue to sort along clearer ideological lines.