Several hundred people gather near Statehouse to watch procession carry late senator’s casket down Main Street
By Skylar Laird
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — South Carolinians said their farewells Wednesday as U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham made his last stop at the Statehouse, where his political career began 34 years ago.
The longtime Republican senator died July 11, at age 71, of a tear in his aorta. A horse-drawn caisson carried his casket to First Baptist Church for a memorial service attended by many past and present state lawmakers.
National and foreign leaders, including President Donald Trump, paid their respects during ceremonies Tuesday in Washington, D.C. to the senator influential on the world stage.
Back home in South Carolina, people lined up on the Statehouse grounds to watch the half-mile procession.
Starting on the south side of the Statehouse, the caisson stopped at the bottom of the steps for about 10 minutes. State leaders, including Gov. Henry McMaster and Attorney General Alan Wilson, watched from the grass nearby.
At 11 a.m., four F-16 fighter jets from McEntire Joint National Guard Base flew overhead, and the procession carried on down Main Street.
Harry Best, a retired teacher from Columbia, reflected on Graham’s constituent service.
Despite his busy schedule, Graham always made time to respond to emails and letters from South Carolinians. The 74-year-old often sent missives to his senator, mostly about foreign affairs, and always got an answer, he said.
Sometimes, Graham sent back both an email and a physical letter. And he always responded quickly, Best said.
“This is a senator that had his constituents at heart and wanted to make sure they were taken care of,” he said.
The procession was quiet. A single protester silently held a sign opposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Lindsey Graham’s friend. Try him for war crimes,” the sign read. Netanyahu did consider Graham a “dear friend,” both personally and to the country of Israel. The prime minister was among world leaders attending Tuesday’s service in Washington.
Michelle Leitner watched the caisson pass with five of her children and a friend from Montana. Leitner planned on bringing her friend to tour the Statehouse anyway, so they figured they’d stop and watch, she said.
A resident of Hopkins for the past three decades, Leitner heard about Graham a lot, she said.
“He either made me angry or made me happy,” the 52-year-old stay-at-home mom said.
She appreciated his unwavering support for Israel, since she’s Jewish, she said. He was a leading advocate for opening an embassy in the nation’s capital of Jerusalem, and Leitner celebrated when that came to pass in 2018.
She disagreed with him on some issues, and she wavered on whether to vote for him in the most recent primary. As she saw him off Wednesday, though, she couldn’t remember which of his positions she didn’t like. She ultimately voted for him in June, she said.
Graham easily won that primary with 57% of the vote, defeating five challengers for the Republican nomination. A special primary to replace Graham on the ballot will take place Aug. 11. Nine candidates, including Graham’s sister, a former governor, and two sitting congressmen, are running.
A win in November would have sent Graham into a fifth term in the U.S. Senate. He was first elected to Congress as part of the 1994 Republican Revolution, becoming the first Republican to represent the 3rd District since Reconstruction. But his first election was to the state House two years earlier.
Leitner didn’t know much about Graham’s background until after his death. Hearing stories about who he was as a person “did wake me up a bit,” she said.
“Sometimes, we think politicians are this image, or we forget they’re human,” Leitner said. “Whether you disagree or agree, they’re human.”
For instance, Leitner said she’d never heard the story of Graham adopting his younger sister, Darline Graham, after their parents died. He was 22 and she was 13 when their father died of a massive heart attack, just 15 months after their mother died of cancer.
That story drives home what a dedicated and family-loving man Graham was, said Neil Derrick, a 74-year-old retired personal trainer.
Derrick stopped to salute Graham during his daily run to the Statehouse.
“He was a great patriot,” Derrick said. “He was a great American.”
Derrick also disagreed with Graham on some issues. He didn’t always find the senator conservative enough for his taste, he said. He sometimes left negative comments on Graham’s Facebook page, which he regretted after the senator’s death.
A lifelong Columbia resident, Derrick met Graham a couple times over the years and always found him likable, he said. Graham signed a baseball for Derrick, which he keeps in a cabinet of similar trinkets at home.
“He was generally just a good guy, just a personable guy who dealt with world leaders and the person who served the food” the same way, Derrick said.
Watching a livestream of the services in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Derrick started to tear up as Democratic members of Congress paid their respects to Graham’s casket. Seeing that show of unity struck a chord, he said.
Whether people loved or hated Graham, everyone could acknowledge he was a go-getter always on the move. He seemed to advocate without rest for the causes he believed in, Derrick said.
At 74, Derrick said he struggles to imagine how much stress wears on politicians around his age, such as Graham, three years his junior, and Trump, who is 80. Yet, they continue to do what they think is best for the country, Derrick said.
“That’s a blessing for all of them, to be able to just say, ‘Hey, I might be tired, but man, I’ve got to force through and get this done,’” Derrick said. “Hats off.”
Don Mobley, a 67-year-old retired accountant, was shocked when he heard about Graham’s sudden death, as many people were. A longtime supporter of Graham’s, the Columbia resident was sad to see him go, he said.
Graham, who never married and had no children, gave everything he had to his work, Mobley said. As for what he contributed to South Carolina, “there’s no telling what he got for us,” Mobley said.
“It’s not a happy day for South Carolina,” Mobley said. “We were lucky to have him.”
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau.
S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. It’s coverage of state news can be found at SCDailyGazette.com.