U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the Senate’s most influential Republicans and a dominant figure in national politics for more than two decades, died Saturday following what his office described as a brief and sudden illness. He was 71.
Graham’s political career was defined largely by his work on national security, the federal judiciary, and military affairs. In Indian Country, however, his legacy is more narrowly focused on his advocacy for the Catawba Indian Nation, South Carolina’s only federally recognized Tribe.
Unlike senators who built careers shaping federal Indian policy through the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Graham was not a leading voice on national tribal issues. Instead, his work involving Tribal Nations centered primarily on legislation affecting the Catawba Nation.
Over the years, Graham sponsored and supported legislation to strengthen the Catawba Nation’s land rights and implement provisions of the Tribe’s settlement agreement with the federal government. He also backed measures addressing trust lands and tribal governance, helping resolve longstanding legal and jurisdictional questions facing the Tribe.
For the Catawba Nation, Graham was widely regarded as a dependable congressional ally who worked across party lines to advance legislation important to the Tribe.
Beyond South Carolina, Graham’s record on tribal issues reflected his broader conservative approach to government.
Throughout his Senate career, he generally supported Republican budget proposals that sought to reduce domestic discretionary spending. Tribal governments and national Native organizations frequently opposed those proposals, arguing they threatened funding for essential programs serving Indian Country, including the Indian Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, Tribal housing, and public safety.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2021, Graham also oversaw confirmation hearings for numerous federal judges and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Some tribal legal advocates expressed concern that several judicial nominees supported during his tenure could prove less favorable to tribal sovereignty and federal trust responsibilities, although Graham himself rarely made federal Indian law a legislative priority.
Graham also voted for several bipartisan measures that benefited Tribal Nations, including reauthorizations of the Violence Against Women Act containing provisions expanding tribal authority to prosecute certain crimes committed on tribal lands.
While his record did not place him among Congress’s leading champions of Native issues, Graham maintained cordial relationships with tribal leaders in South Carolina and consistently supported legislation benefiting the Catawba Nation.
His death comes during an election year and creates a vacancy in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate delegation. Under South Carolina law, Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to appoint an interim senator until a special election is held.
For Indian Country, Graham’s legacy will likely be remembered as that of a senator whose engagement with tribal affairs was limited in scope but significant for the Catawba Indian Nation, while his broader policy positions often differed from the priorities advocated by Tribal governments and national Native organizations.
