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FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence is calling on Congress to rename Sen. Lindsey Graham’s signature Russia sanctions legislation after the late South Carolina Republican, telling Fox News Digital there would be “no more fitting tribute” to one of the Senate’s most influential national security hawks.
In an exclusive interview, Pence said Graham’s years-long push for tougher sanctions against Russia should become both his legislative legacy and a permanent reminder of his unwavering support for Ukraine and America’s allies.
Pence argued Congress has a rare opportunity to honor Graham by passing the bipartisan sanctions package he spent years championing and sending it to President Donald Trump with the senator’s name attached.
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“I also believe it’d be altogether fitting to put Senator Lindsey Graham’s name on that bill,” Pence told Fox News Digital. “Send it to the President, have him sign it into law.”
Pence said Graham viewed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as one of the defining geopolitical challenges of the era and believed economic pressure was essential to forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate.
“He never had any illusions about who we were dealing with — with Vladimir Putin,” Pence said.
The former vice president, who has traveled to Ukraine twice since Russia’s invasion, said Graham understood that Ukraine represented “a frontier of freedom” and consistently pushed both Republican and Democratic administrations to stand firmly with America’s allies.
When asked whether the sanctions legislation could ultimately become Graham’s greatest achievement, Pence said it may well define how history remembers the longtime senator.
“I think it could be,” Pence said.
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He pointed to Graham’s decades-long advocacy for Israel, Ukraine and a stronger NATO alliance, saying the senator remained remarkably consistent throughout his public career.
Pence said Graham also played an important role in encouraging NATO allies to increase defense spending during the first Trump administration, while remaining one of Israel’s fiercest advocates on Capitol Hill.
For Pence, however, Graham’s final legislative push is inseparable from one of their last conversations together.
He still remembers the meeting vividly.
Pence and his wife, Karen, had just landed at Reagan National Airport and were making their way through the terminal when they spotted Graham heading toward another gate.
As he almost always did, Graham began by asking about Pence’s family.
The senator wanted updates on Pence’s son, a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and his son-in-law, a Navy fighter pilot. Pence said Graham never forgot to ask about them.
But after briefly catching up, the conversation shifted to the issue occupying Graham’s attention in his final months.
“We went straight into a conversation about Ukraine sanctions,” Pence recalled.
Pence thanked Graham for leading the effort and mentioned a Wall Street Journal opinion piece supporting tougher sanctions against Russia.
Graham immediately leaned in.
“He did one of those — puts his finger in my chest — and said, ‘You just stay on this. This is the way we’re gonna get this done. This is the way you bring Putin to the table.'”
The two men embraced before heading toward separate gates.
“We parted with a handshake and a hug,” Pence said.
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Looking back, Pence said that brief airport encounter perfectly captured the man he had known for decades.
Graham enjoyed talking about family and could always be counted on for a joke, Pence said, but the personal conversation rarely lasted long before he returned to public policy.
“He was a very serious legislator,” Pence said. “He was a man who was deeply committed to policy.”
Pence said Graham’s convictions never changed, whether the issue was supporting the military, standing with Israel, protecting unborn life or confronting authoritarian regimes like Russia, Iran and China.
“He never wavered,” Pence said.
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The former vice president said he learned of Graham’s death Sunday morning and remains deeply saddened by the loss of someone he first came to know during the Republican Revolution of the 1990s before serving alongside him in Congress and later in the Trump administration.
“I was taken aback by the news,” Pence said. “I really, really have a heavy heart, to this hour.”
Pence said he hopes lawmakers finish the work Graham dedicated years to advancing.
“I really do believe there would be no more fitting tribute to the life and vision of Senator Lindsey Graham than for Congress to pass and the president to sign the tough Russia sanctions bill,” Pence said.
“I’m going to continue to champion that in the days ahead.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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