OAN Staff Addie Davis
10:00 AM – Tuesday, July 14, 2026
United States Senator Thomas “Tommy” Tuberville has revealed that Senator Lindsey Graham called a staffer about “chest pain” shortly before his death.
On Monday, Tuberville (R-Ala.) told reporters that a member of his staff was with Graham’s (R-S.C.) scheduler the night of his death. The scheduler—who previously worked for Tuberville—received a call from Graham that evening complaining about pain he was experiencing.
“Lindsey called—called basically, said, ‘Listen, I’m having chest pain…I need to do something,’” Tuberville stated.
“Did you call 911?” the scheduler purportedly asked.
“No, that’s the reason I called you,” Graham said, according to Tuberville.
He said the staffer called 911 and headed to where Graham was located.
“By the time she got there, 911 had knocked the door down, and they were working on him,” Tuberville said, giving his opinion on the cause of death. “It’s just one of those things. Lindsey basically worked himself to death.”
Following an autopsy, the medical examiner found that Graham passed away from an aortic dissection—a tear in the wall of the aorta—brought on by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or hardening of the arteries.
Graham was a long-time senator from South Carolina, serving in the position since 2003. He established himself as a prominent voice in foreign policy and as a person who was able to work with those he disagreed with, according to his colleagues.
Tuberville described Graham, who never married or had children, as constantly on the move, noting that when he had time off, he was always traveling and working. Shortly before his death, Graham returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“If we had a couple days off, he went to that airport and he went somewhere to try to work out something for our country,” Tuberville said.
He explained that when he would walk into a meeting after a few days off, he would ask, “Lindsey, where you been?”
“Because you knew he’d been somewhere. And we either talked golf, or we talked about him going overseas somewhere and talking to some ambassador or some president,” Tuberville said. “He was very well-known. He was very smart. He knew foreign relations. And no, there’s no conspiracy theory.”
On Monday, after President Donald Trump announced the recommendation, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R-S.C.) named Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, as the senator’s temporary replacement to serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in January.
A special Republican primary is scheduled for August 11th. The general election will be held in November, where voters will elect the permanent replacement for the Senate seat.
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