GOP Digest — July 13, 2026 | Senate Returns After Lindsey Graham's Death as South Carolina Race Takes Shape

Washington returns to a changed Senate this morning. Lindsey Graham's death over the weekend has Republicans mourning one of President Trump's closest Senate allies while simultaneously scrambling to fill his seat, protect a 53-47 majority that just got thinner, and restart a stalled legislative agenda — all with the November midterms less than four months out.

Today's Digest

• [BREAKING] — Senate Returns After the Death of Lindsey Graham: The Senate convenes today for its first session since Graham, 71, died Saturday evening from a tear in his aorta. The South Carolina Republican, a committee chairman and one of President Trump's closest friends in the chamber, was in the middle of a campaign for a fifth term. Tributes and memorial traditions are expected on the floor as Republicans absorb the loss of a member Trump called a key intermediary who "could go in and get something approved."
• [SOUTH CAROLINA] — Gov. McMaster to Name Interim Senator; Special Primary Set for August 11: Under South Carolina law, McMaster will appoint a senator to serve until early January, and a special primary on August 11 will decide who takes Graham's place on the November ballot. Filing opens July 21 and closes July 28, with a runoff if needed on August 25 — an extraordinarily compressed calendar that gives would-be candidates barely a week to decide.
• [PRIMARIES] — Nancy Mace Moves Toward a Senate Bid as the Field Forms: Mace, fresh off her fifth-place finish in the June governor's primary, has a viability poll going into the field Monday and told Fox News she'll "certainly take a look at it" if South Carolinians want her to serve. Rep. Joe Wilson publicly ruled out a run after speaking with the president, citing the GOP's slim House majority, while Rep. Ralph Norman, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, and Rep. Russell Fry are among the names circulating.
• [SENATE] — Mitch McConnell Breaks Weeks of Silence on His Health: The former Republican leader, hospitalized for nearly a month, said Sunday evening that he is still recovering after suffering pneumonia and a fall at his home. His absence, alongside the Graham vacancy, temporarily narrows the GOP's working numbers in the 53-47 chamber at a critical stretch.
• [NATIONAL SECURITY] — U.S. Launches Third Round of Strikes on Iran Over Strait of Hormuz Attack: U.S. Central Command struck roughly 140 Iranian military sites after the IRGC hit the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy in the Strait of Hormuz, leaving one crew member missing, and Tehran declared the strait closed. Iran responded with drone and missile attacks on U.S. bases and Gulf states including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman. The two sides exchanged fresh strikes overnight into Monday and issued conflicting declarations over whether the strait is open to shipping, with Brent crude rising more than 4 percent Monday.
• [AGENDA] — Thinner Margin Meets a Stalled To-Do List: Republicans return to stalled spending bills and the pending confirmation of President Trump's attorney general nominee Todd Blanche, now with reduced numbers that add uncertainty to what was already expected to be a chaotic few months before November. Leadership questions loom over how quickly the conference can regroup and move its agenda.

On the Record

"He was a great — like a gauge, a temperature gauge of the Senate. He could go in and get something approved. He would just get people on his side." — President Donald Trump on the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, NBC's Meet the Press, July 12