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Sen. Lindsey Graham

Senator for South Carolina

pronounced LIND-zee // gram

Graham is the senior senator from South Carolina and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 7, 2003. Graham is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan 3, 2027. He is 68 years old.

He was previously the representative for South Carolina’s 3rd congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2002.

Photo of Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Graham.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Graham is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Graham has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 21, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Lindsey Graham sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Graham was the primary sponsor of 18 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 18 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Graham sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

International Affairs (32%) Crime and Law Enforcement (28%) Immigration (9%) Government Operations and Politics (7%) Armed Forces and National Security (7%) Health (6%) Science, Technology, Communications (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Graham recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Graham voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 63/36 on Dec 9, 2016.
The Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017 (H.R. 2028) is a continuing resolution that extended fiscal year 2017 funding for the United States …

Graham voted Nay

Bill Passed 72/26 on Sep 28, 2016.
The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations …

Graham voted Yea

Joint Resolution Passed 78/22 on Sep 18, 2014.

Graham voted Yea

Motion Agreed to 81/19 on Dec 15, 2010.
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known …

Graham voted Yea

Graham voted Nay

Missed Votes

From Jan 2003 to Sep 2023, Graham missed 436 of 6,819 roll call votes, which is 6.4%. This is much worse than the median of 2.4% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: