WASHINGTON — Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was elected to the Senate in 2003 and was a close political ally of President Donald Trump, has died, his office confirmed early Sunday. He was 71.

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Graham died Saturday night “from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement.

“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” the statement said.

Graham was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was seeking a fifth six-year Senate term in November. He was one of the most well-known members of the chamber and a key voice within the party on defense and foreign policy.

Emergency personnel responded to a call for “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s Capitol Hill home on Saturday night, according to police scanner audio obtained by NBC News.

Photographs reviewed by NBC News show that paramedics carried a person on a stretcher from Graham’s home to an awaiting ambulance. Police cars and fire trucks were also on site.

In a statement, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster paid tribute to “the fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America—and a loyal and steadfast friend.”

According to South Carolina law, McMaster will appoint someone to fill Graham’s seat until Jan. 3 of next year.

In June, Graham defeated multiple primary challengers to secure the nomination for a fifth term in the Senate. South Carolina Republicans must now find a replacement nominee.

Graham was fresh off a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. “I’m grateful to Lindsey for recognizing our warriors,” Zelenskyy said, adding that they discussed the country’s urgent air defense needs and plans for fresh Russian sanctions.

He had been scheduled to appear on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

His death comes as fellow Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell remains in the hospital after paramedics responded to a call at a known residence last month for an individual experiencing cardiac arrest.

A McConnell spokesperson has said the former GOP majority leader is continuing to recover, but his team has not provided further details about his condition.

Graham first arrived in Congress as a member of the House of Representatives, where he served from 1995 to 2003.

He ran for Senate in 2002, winning the South Carolina seat previously held by the retiring Strom Thurmond.

Graham made a name for himself with his work on foreign policy. In recent years, he pressed both the Trump and Biden administrations to back Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion, and pressed the Trump administration for a hawkish stance on Iran.

He found allies for his foreign policy positions in the upper chamber, befriending former Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., dubbed “the Three Amigos” for their shared hawkish stances.

Graham, a former Air Force JAG officer, chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2021. He most recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, where he helped shepherd through a major tax cut and spending package during Trump’s second term.

Graham was initially a critic of Trump, whom he briefly ran against during the 2016 Republican presidential primary. At the time, he warned: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.”

But in an interview with NBC News in February, he called himself the president’s “north star,” a sign of how the pair’s relationship had evolved in the intervening decade.

“We disagree, but he knows where I am coming from,” Graham said of the president. “He sees me helping him as much as anybody in the Senate.”