2026-07-12T13:06:19.112Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/12/politics/lindsey-graham-replacement-senate
颇具影响力的共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆突然去世，将对参议院的立法事务以及11月的选举产生影响。目前参议院共和党人的微弱优势本就因米奇·麦康奈尔参议员缺席而岌岌可危。以下是我们目前已知的后续情况。
根据南卡罗来纳州法律，州长亨利·麦克马斯特可以任命一名临时接替者填补格雷厄姆空出的席位。
但由于格雷厄姆今年正面临连任竞选，他的去世将触发一场快速进行的党内初选，以在11月的选票上替换他的位置。
官方尚未宣布格雷厄姆的继任安排，但州法律似乎要求在8月11日举行特别初选，若需要则在8月25日进行决选，以选出新的候选人。
按照这一时间线，候选人登记将从7月21日持续至7月28日。
初选获胜者将在11月与民主党候选人、儿科医生安妮·安德鲁斯展开角逐。
安德鲁斯在周日的一份声明中称格雷厄姆是“一位拥有坚定信仰的人，曾以军法署军官和空军上校的身份自豪地为国家服务”。
“我希望南卡罗来纳州民众能与我一道，抛开党派分歧，向林赛·格雷厄姆参议员致敬，感谢他为伟大的南卡罗来纳州所做的服务，”她说道。
现在还无法精准预测谁将接替格雷厄姆。但周日已经出现了一些初步的热门人选。
在近期南卡罗来纳州州长初选中排名第五的众议员南希·梅斯告诉CNN，她“正在认真考虑”参选该席位。
一位知情人士告诉CNN，南卡罗来纳州副州长帕梅拉·埃维特正在接听有关参选该席位的电话。
埃维特今年曾竞选州长，并获得了唐纳德·特朗普总统的背书，但在特朗普也支持其对手后的决选中落败。
特朗普周日表示，他心中有人选来接替格雷厄姆完成剩余任期。
“我有一个认为非常合适的人选，但我现在不想透露，因为你知道，现在谈论林赛的事还为时过早，”特朗普在NBC的《与媒体见面》节目中说道。
南卡罗来纳州众议员乔·威尔逊周日在社交媒体上发帖称，他已与总统交谈，并暗示自己对临时任命不感兴趣。
“今天我很荣幸能与特朗普总统交谈，缅怀我们共同的朋友林赛·格雷厄姆参议员，”威尔逊说道。
“我向他保证，我的目标是留在众议院，为美国民众保住他所争取的两票多数席位！！！”
众议院自由党团核心成员、众议员拉尔夫·诺曼此前曾被广泛认为考虑在共和党初选中挑战格雷厄姆，他告诉CNN，目前尚未决定是否有意参选接替格雷厄姆。
当被问及是否有意竞选该席位时，他在周日上午的电话采访中告诉CNN：“我不知道。”
“我和所有人一样，对此感到震惊，”他说道。
诺曼上个月也参加了州长初选，排名第三，未能进入决选。尽管诺曼是特朗普的坚定捍卫者，但他呼吁财政紧缩的立场有时会与共和党领导层和白宫产生分歧。
诺曼表示，参议院原本不一定在他的考虑范围内，但“在参议院你可以做很多有益的事情”。
“我现在唯一在权衡的是，他去世了，这太令人难过了，”诺曼说道。
格雷厄姆的去世不会对参议院的整体权力平衡产生短期影响。
麦克马斯特是共和党人，因此他的任命应该会恢复参议院53票对47票的共和党优势。
而由于最近几周麦康奈尔住院导致共和党党团会议一直缺员一名议员，外界可能会向麦克马斯特施压，要求其尽快完成任命。
尽管格雷厄姆的去世可能不会影响参议院的控制权归属，但他是参议院重大议题中的关键人物。
格雷厄姆曾任参议院预算委员会主席，该委员会正处于复杂的预算和解程序的早期阶段，试图推动通过特朗普的选民身份证法案的部分内容。
共和党议员曾希望快速推进以满足总统的要求，而这些要求已经给他们在国会山的议程造成了重大阻碍。由于《拯救美国法案》未能获得足够票数突破参议院60票的阻挠议事门槛，特朗普感到不满，他敦促议员们废除阻挠议事规则，并拒绝签署其他两党住房立法以示抗议。（尽管如此，该住房法案最终还是获得了通过。）
特朗普周日在接受CNN记者杰克·塔珀的《国情咨文》节目采访时，提及了格雷厄姆对《拯救美国法案》的支持。
“我认为他当时是支持废除阻挠议事规则的。但在我们付诸行动之前，他就是《拯救美国法案》的坚定倡导者，”特朗普说道，并补充说他和格雷厄姆在其去世前几小时还曾讨论过这项立法。
特朗普还提到，格雷厄姆在其他场合也支持过他——包括为最高法院大法官布雷特·卡瓦诺的确认投票发声。
参议院还将审议白宫提出的追加国防拨款的请求，以应对伊朗局势。格雷厄姆本会直言不讳地支持这项拨款计划，但该计划在国会面临艰难闯关，因为根据参议院规则，要通过该法案可能需要两党投票支持。
由于参议院国防拨款小组委员会主席麦康奈尔缺席数周，进一步的五角大楼拨款计划又多出了一个变数。
就在去世前几天，格雷厄姆还为推动对进口俄罗斯石油和能源的国家征收惩罚性关税的两党倡议取得重大胜利而庆祝。
民主党参议员克里斯·库恩斯近期参加了北约峰会，并与格雷厄姆一同会见了乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基，他表示，在获得特朗普的背书推进制裁方案后，已故参议员格雷厄姆“欣喜若狂”。
在格雷厄姆去世后，一些在外交政策上与他立场一致的参议员敦促参议院领导层尽快通过他和民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔推动了一年多的制裁法案。
“没有什么比通过这项立法，实现林赛长期以来的愿景——建立一个独立、安全的乌克兰，更能恰当地纪念林赛、纪念他的遗产以及他为之奋斗的事业，”参议院外交关系委员会最高民主党参议员珍妮·沙欣周日说道。
格雷厄姆还本会是代理司法部长托德·布兰奇的关键支持者，布兰奇本周将出席参议院司法委员会听证会，特朗普希望确认他正式担任司法部部长。
本文已根据最新报道进行更新。
Lindsey Graham’s death will shake the Senate, and the November election. Here’s what comes next
2026-07-12T13:06:19.112Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/12/politics/lindsey-graham-replacement-senate
The sudden death of influential Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham will have implications for legislative business in the Senate – where Republicans slim margin is already under stress with the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell – and the November election. Here’s what we know about what comes next.
Under state law, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster can appoint a temporary replacement to fill Graham’s now-vacant seat.
But because Graham was up for reelection this year, his death will kick off a sprint primary election to replace him on the November ballot.
Officials have yet to announce how Graham will be replaced, but state law appears to call for a special primary election on August 11 – with a possible runoff on August 25 – to choose a new nominee.
Under that timeline, candidate filing would run from July 21 to July 28.
The winner of the primary would face the Democratic nominee, pediatrician Annie Andrews, in November.
In a statement Sunday, Andrews called Graham “a man of great faith who proudly served our nation as a JAG officer and Air Force colonel.”
“I hope that South Carolinians will join me in setting partisanship aside and offering gratitude to Senator Lindsey Graham for his service to the great state of South Carolina,” she said.
It is too early to say with any precision who might replace Graham. But some early names began to emerge Sunday.
Rep. Nancy Mace, who finished in fifth place in the recent South Carolina gubernatorial primary, told CNN she was “strongly considering” a bid for the seat.
A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Pamela Evette, South Carolina’s lieutenant governor, was fielding calls about getting into the race.
Evette ran for governor this year and had President Donald Trump’s endorsement, but she lost in a runoff after Trump also endorsed her opponent.
Trump said Sunday he had someone in mind for who he’d like to see serve out Graham’s term.
“I have somebody that I think would be great, but I don’t want to say it now because it just, you know, it’s too soon with Lindsey,” Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson posted on social media Sunday that he had spoken with the president and implied he was not interested in the interim appointment.
“I was grateful to speak with President Trump today reminiscing about our mutual friend, Senator Lindsey Graham,” Wilson said.
“I assured him my goal is to remain in the House to keep his two-vote majority for the American people!!!”
Rep. Ralph Norman, a prominent member of the House Freedom Caucus, who at one time was widely considered to be contemplating a challenge to Graham in the GOP primary, told CNN that he has not decided if he is interested in potentially vying to replace him now.
Asked about his interest in potentially seeking the seat, he told CNN in a phone call Sunday morning “I don’t know.”
“I am like everybody, it’s a shock,” he said.
Norman, who ran for governor in the primary last month, placed third and did not advance to the runoff in that race. While Norman is a fierce defender of Trump, his calls for fiscal restraint have sometimes put him at odds with GOP leaders and the White House.
Norman said the Senate wasn’t necessarily on his radar, but “in the Senate you can do a lot of good things.”
“The only thing I am weighing right now is that he died. It’s just sad,” Norman said.
Graham’s death shouldn’t have a short-term impact on the overall balance of power in the Senate.
McMaster is a Republican, so his appointment should restore the 53-47 GOP advantage in the chamber.
And there will likely be pressure for McMaster to make an appointment quickly, as the Republican caucus had already been operating short one member in recent weeks due to the hospitalization of McConnell.
While Graham’s death might not have an overall impact on the control of the Senate, he was key player on major issues in the chamber.
The Senate budget committee, which Graham chaired, was in the early phases of working through a complicated budget reconciliation process to try to muscle through parts of Trump’s voter ID bill.
GOP lawmakers had hoped to work quickly to satisfy the president’s demands, which have caused major roadblocks to their agenda on Capitol Hill. Frustrated that the SAVE America Act does not have the votes to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, Trump has pushed lawmakers to eliminate the filibuster and refused to sign other, bi-partisan housing legislation in protest. (That became law anyway.)
Trump noted Graham’s support of the SAVE Act in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday.
“He was coming aboard, I think, for the filibuster, terminating the filibuster. But before we did that, he was going to he was a strong advocate for Save America,” Trump said, adding that the two had talked about the legislation just hours before Graham’s death.
Trump also noted that Graham had supported him in other contexts – including the confirmation fight for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Senate is also set to consider a request from the White House for additional defense funding amid the Iran war. Graham would’ve been an outspoken advocate for the measure, which faces a difficult path in Congress as it could require a bipartisan vote to pass under Senate rules.
Further Pentagon funding faces another wrinkle due to the weeks-long absence of McConnell, the chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee.
Just days before his death, Graham celebrated a major victory for his bipartisan push to impose crippling tariffs on countries that import Russian oil and energy sources.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, who attended the recent NATO summit and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Graham, said the late senator had been “jubilant” after receiving Trump’s blessing to move ahead with the sanctions package.
In the wake of Graham’s death, some senators aligned with him on foreign policy are urging Senate leadership to quickly move the sanctions bill that he and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal have been pushing for more than a year.
“There can be no more fitting memorial to Lindsey, his legacy or the causes he fought for than to pass this legislation and realize his long-held dream of an independent and secure Ukraine,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Sunday.
Graham also would have been a key defender of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week as Trump hopes to confirm him to lead the Justice Department in a permanent capacity.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.