"I'll never forget the Senate lunch, when a couple senators were a tad off the program, and Lindsey – in his inimitable way – made sure everyone was onside by the time we left.
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It was a glorious thing to witness.
He knew how to move a room," said Stephen Miller, the influential White House deputy chief of staff.
On foreign policy, Graham often maintained a hawkish stance, supporting military actions in the Middle East and Latin America while strongly advocating for international alliances like NATO.
He remained a steadfast supporter of foreign aid to Ukraine and had returned from a diplomatic meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv shortly before his passing.
"While we disagreed fiercely on many policy issues, he was complicated and could not be pigeonholed," said Democratic senator Chris Coons, who celebrated Graham's birthday over dinner last week during the NATO summit in Turkey.
"Several of my most important bills I have passed were with Lindsey, from conservation in Africa to promoting balanced American engagement with fragile states.
I will miss having him as a partner in the Senate."
One day prior to his death, Graham joined a bipartisan group of four senators to finalize an agreement with the White House aimed at penalizing nations purchasing energy products from Russia.
"It is important that our long-range sanctions pressure on Russia be reinforced through new sanctions steps by our partners," Ukraine's president wrote following their meeting.
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"Lindsey briefed me on the work underway in Congress on the relevant bill."
