Former Vice President Mike Pence is urging Congress to rename a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill after the late Senator Lindsey Graham, calling it the most fitting tribute to the South Carolina Republican's decades-long fight against Russian aggression. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Pence recalled his final conversation with Graham at Reagan National Airport, where the senator urged him to keep pushing for tougher economic measures against Moscow.
Pence said Graham viewed Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a defining geopolitical challenge and believed that sustained 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 argued that Congress has a rare opportunity to honor Graham by passing the sanctions package he championed for years and sending it to President Donald Trump with Graham's name attached.
«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, who has traveled to Ukraine twice since the invasion began, 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 become Graham's greatest achievement, Pence said it may well define how history remembers the longtime senator. «I think it could be,» Pence said. He pointed to Graham's decades-long advocacy for Israel, Ukraine, and a stronger NATO alliance, noting that the senator remained remarkably consistent throughout his public career. 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.
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.
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 a request for comment on the proposal. Graham, who served in the Senate for more than two decades, was known as a leading national security hawk and a key voice on foreign policy. His death has prompted an outpouring of tributes from both sides of the aisle, with colleagues remembering him as a principled legislator who built bipartisan coalitions on issues ranging from military funding to counterterrorism. The Russia sanctions bill, which Graham had worked on for years, aims to impose additional economic penalties on Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine and other malign activities. Supporters argue that the legislation would send a strong signal of American resolve and help bring Putin to the negotiating table.