Sen. Lindsey Graham in an interview on CNN’s “Inside Politics” Wednesday morning mourned his close friend and colleague Sen. John McCain.
The Republican South Carolina senator said that he “never did anything politically of consequence” without McCain.
“We had a political marriage,” said Graham. “I’ve lost my partner here.”
“I mean all the big stuff -- campaign finance, climate change, a rock, you name it. I was by John’s side. I was his wingman. When I decided to run for president, he was there doing anything and everything,” he said.
“So it was not a political friendship. It was a real friendship,” Graham went on. “I admired him, I respected him, and I came to love him. And what I’ll have to do now is realize that the person I’d pick the phone up and call and ask a question about what to do and where should we go won’t be there.”
Graham honored McCain in an emotional speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
During his remarks, he praised McCain as a man of “honor” and who “always was willing to admit to his imperfection.”
"To those who are striving as a young person, remember John McCain,” said Graham. “He failed a lot, but he never quit.”
“The reason we're talking about him today and the reason I'm crying is because he was successful in spite of his failures," he said.
He was in tears as he left the floor.
A private ceremony for McCain was held inside the Arizona State Capitol Rotunda Wednesday afternoon. The ceremony was held on what would be his 82nd birthday.
McCain will lie in state in Arizona for two days. He will then lie in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., which will be made open for the public to pay their respects to the late senator, war hero, and father.
There will be a private funeral at the Naval Academy Chapel on Sunday, Sept. 2. He will be laid to rest at the Naval Academy Cemetery.