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Former member of Congress · last served 119th Congress

Official portrait of Sen. Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham

REPUBLICAN U.S. Senator · South CarolinaSenate 2003–2026 · House 1995–2003 (SC-3)

Lindsey Graham was a Republican U.S. senator from South Carolina, first elected to Congress in 1995, who voted with most Republicans on 99% of the 119th Congress’s yes/no votes and sponsored 5 bills that became law (113th–119th Congress).

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225Bills & resolutions sponsored113th–119th Congress (excludes amendments)
7Passed a chamberof 142 substantive bills (excludes resolutions and ceremonial bills)
5Became law5 substantive + 0 ceremonial · 113th–119th Congress
7Broke with partyof 794 yes/no votes, 119th (0.9%)
57Missed votesof 851 roll calls, 119th (6.7%)
$384.7MPork: own shareFY2024 earmarks, 70 items; shared items split

How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.

5 most recent votes

5 most recent bills

Top bills sponsored

Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.

Elections Sen. Graham has won

Sen. Graham has won 4 U.S. House elections (1994–2000) and 4 U.S. Senate elections (2002, 2008, 2014, 2020). Of the contested races, margins ran from 10.2 to 37.5 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1994, SC-3: won by 20.1 points1994SC-31996, SC-3: won by 21.6 points19961998: unopposed19982000, SC-3: won by 37.5 points20002002, SC Senate: won by 10.2 points2002SC Senate2008, SC Senate: won by 15.3 points20082014, SC Senate: won by 15.5 points20142020, SC Senate: won by 10.3 points2020
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won8 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 10.2 points2002, SC Senate
Won an open seat or took one from the other party2 of 8 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, South Carolina’s 3rd districtWinners, most recent three: James Barrett (R) 2002–2008 → Jeff Duncan (R) 2010–2022 → Sheri Biggs (R) 2024. Elections shown, not terms; special elections not included.
Seat history, South Carolina Senate (class 2)Winners in regular elections, most recent three: J. Thurmond (R) 1978–1996 → Lindsey Graham (R) 2002–2020. The seat is next on the ballot in 2026.

Full election history for this seat →

Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.

How has South Carolina done while Sen. Graham served?

2005 to 2024 in South Carolina: typical household income was up 14% after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was down 2.3 points, and the share of workers looking for a job was down 3.5 points.

Typical household income · after inflationU.S. $81.6KSouth Carolina $72.3K
South Carolina: $63.5K in 2005 → $72.3K in 2024
South Carolina up 14%U.S. up 9%
Share of people below the poverty lineSouth Carolina 13.3%U.S. 12.1%
South Carolina: 15.6% in 2005 → 13.3% in 2024
South Carolina down 2.3 pointsU.S. down 1.2 points
Share of workers looking for a jobU.S. 4.6%South Carolina 4.5%
South Carolina: 8.0% in 2005 → 4.5% in 2024
South Carolina down 3.5 pointsU.S. down 2.3 points

Each mini chart has its own scale, fitted to its lines (it does not start at zero), so compare the numbers, not the heights. Oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in South Carolina during Graham’s time representing it (2003 to 2026). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

Survey years start at 2005. The yearly estimates for South Carolina begin in 2005, so 2003 to 2004 are not shown. No 2020 yearly estimate exists.

See the full 20-year record →Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates (tables B19013, B17001, B23001) and BLS CPI-U-RS for inflation, retrieved October 18, 2026. “About the same” means the change is inside the 90% margins of error. Who held the seat: Congress.gov member service records, year level.

Official records on bills this member sponsored

119th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 37 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored37Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 25, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a CBO cost estimate listed3See the 3 →
With a committee report listed0None listed
With a Congress.gov note2See the 2 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 119th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
Fields
cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
PORKER copy refreshed
October 25, 2026 (nightly)

Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.

Votes on civilian nominations

221 confirmation roll calls this senator was on the roll for, 119th Congress. A tally of what the record shows, not a score.

Yea 197 (89%)Not voting 24 (11%)
Source: Senate roll call votes, as stored by PORKER ↗
Evidence
What is counted
Senate roll calls in the 119th Congress on the question of confirming a civilian nomination, as recorded on senate.gov. Cloture and procedural votes are not counted.
How it is matched
The vote record names the nomination number; the senator is matched by the Senate member id.
Not voting
Includes absences and any other reason. The record does not say why.

589 of the 617 confirmed civilian nominations show a roll-call vote on their latest-action line; the rest show a voice vote, unanimous consent or another method, with no individual votes. So this is only the roll-call subset. It says nothing about whether any vote was right or wrong.

All confirmed nominationsNominations hub

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Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · latest recorded Senate vote Sep 30, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.