WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance eulogized the late Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) from the United States Capitol on Tuesday, describing Graham as a “true American original” and a great statesman who deeply loved his fellow Americans.
Vance spoke in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday morning as he and his fellow Republicans honored the life of the late senator, who suddenly died earlier in July at the age of 71.
The vice president offered his deep sympathy and condolences to Graham’s family and staff, telling them, “I know so many of you loved Lindsey like I did. So many of you argued with Lindsey, laughed with Lindsey, relied on Lindsey.”
WATCH LIVE: Lindsay Graham Honored In Solemn Capitol Ceremony
“Lindsey Graham loved people from all walks of life,” he reflected. “I think in part because of the way that he grew up, because of the fact that he wasn’t handed everything. He was fascinated in everybody. He was fascinated in the wait staff in the Senate dining room. He was fascinated in the people who made the food. He was fascinated in the lowest staffer who had been hired three days earlier. He was fascinated by, of course, the very leadership of our country.”
“I think he was fascinated in people because he loved people and he was interested in them,” he added, describing Graham as the kind of person who “treated everybody the same because he was fascinated and he loved every single person in this chamber.”
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Vance shared that he first met Graham when he was on the campaign trail for his Senate race in 2022. He recalled driving in the back of the car with Graham, heading from campaign event to campaign event with the late senator, seeing firsthand how invested Graham was in his fellow Americans, and experiencing Graham’s “world-class sense of humor.”
On the campaign trail, ahead of one of Graham’s hits on Fox News, Vance asked the South Carolina senator to direct people to his website. Vance joked: “Over a four-minute interview, he must have mentioned JDVance.com close to a dozen times. The host would ask, ‘How was the weather?’ And Lindsey would say, ‘Well before I check the weather, I always go to JDVance.com.’ And in a four- or five-minute TV appearance, Lindsey Graham raised us over $100,000.”
“That swashbuckling, infectious laugh, that attitude, that passion that so many others have talked about,” Vance shared. “Lindsey Graham was impossible not to like as a human being and, of course, as a United States senator.”
Vance recalled getting into a huge argument with Graham about a funding bill for Ukraine during a Senate lunch. Afterwards, he said, he went back to his staff and told them he had probably lost Graham’s vote on important rail legislation he was working on. Later on, he found out that the “fiercest advocate of that bill behind the scenes was Senator Lindsey Graham.”
“I went to Lindsey and I said, ‘Why are you helping me? Why are you helping this legislation?’ And I expected him to do what so many politicians would do. I expected him to lie and say, ‘Well, I really care about rail legislation.’ And he said, ‘I don’t care about that at all.’ I said, ‘Why are you helping me?’ And he said, ‘Well, I don’t care about it, but you do.'”
“And that was the kind of colleague he could be,” Vance added. “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. That was who Lindsey Graham was.”
Vance credited Graham with helping Justice Brett Kavanaugh make it through his Supreme Court confirmation, describing the late senator as a “fierce” advocate for the embattled Supreme Court justice nominee, swaying other senators with his passionate defense of Kavanaugh.
“I believe he saved that nomination,” Vance said.
“He saw that the Senate at its very worst could be a venue for character assassination,” the vice president said. “But because he loved people, he saw that the Senate at its very best could be a deliberative body geared towards persuading people. And that’s what Lindsey Graham did in that case and in so many others.”
“I choose to remember Lindsey Graham as a man who could disagree with you without being disagreeable,” Vance said. “I choose to remember Lindsey Graham as a person who could fight with you on one issue but fight for you on another issue. I remember Lindsey Graham as a man who loved people. And because he loved people, he was willing to reason with them, to respect them, and ultimately to persuade them.”
“May God comfort all of those who loved Lindsey Graham, particularly his beautiful family,” Vance concluded. “And may God rest the soul of Senator Lindsey Graham, a true American original.”
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