Durbin remembers Lindsey Graham, longtime bipartisan ally and rival

Dick Durbin called Lindsey Graham a “fair-minded person” Sunday while reflecting on the South Carolina Republican’s sudden death at 71, a loss that quickly drew attention to one of the Senate’s most durable cross-party relationships. Durbin, the Illinois Democrat, appeared on CBS News 24/7 to talk about both friendship and political clashes with Graham.

Graham’s office said he died Saturday after a “brief and sudden illness.” He was a four-term Republican senator from South Carolina, and his death set off a wave of reactions from congressional colleagues and foreign leaders on Sunday. President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Graham shortly before the senator died, adding to the immediate sense of shock around Washington.

Durbin and Graham had spent years finding common ground on some of the chamber’s most difficult fights. They worked together on immigration, judiciary and tech-policy legislation, and on June 24 they announced OpenAI’s endorsement of their DEFIANCE Act, a measure designed to combat nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes. That endorsement was the first from an artificial intelligence company for the bill, giving the proposal unusual momentum at a moment when lawmakers are struggling to keep up with the misuse of AI-generated images.

Their cooperation was also visible in the long-running push for the DREAM Act. Senate Judiciary Committee materials say Durbin and Graham introduced identical versions of the legislation in the last three sessions of Congress, a rare sign of persistence in a Senate where bipartisan work often disappears after the cameras leave. The two men still fought plenty of political battles, and Durbin made clear that their relationship included real clashes as well as trust.

Even in death, Graham’s role as a dealmaker was part of the debate over his legacy. CBS News noted that Rep. Mike Turner said he hoped the Senate would pass a Russia sanctions bill as one of Graham’s enduring achievements. For Graham, the record now includes both hard-edged partisan fights and the kind of cross-aisle alliances that once gave the Senate room to function.