One thing that irks many Americans is the amount of money their elected representatives accumulate during their years in office.
Entering office as ‘regular people,’ many lawmakers retire worth millions—or tens of millions—of dollars.
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In the case of Nancy Pelosi, the long-serving California Democrat and two-time House Speaker, she will leave office in January with a net worth estimated to be between $250 and $285 million, on a salary of less than $175,000 a year (at the current pay scale for members of the House).
But not all lawmakers enrich themselves while in office, and that includes the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Graham served in Congress for more than three decades, but public financial disclosure records indicate his personal wealth was considerably smaller than that of many longtime lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
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Based on the financial disclosure forms he filed in May, Lindsey Graham’s net worth at the time of his death was estimated at approximately $1.4 million.
The filings placed the low end of his estimated wealth at just over $600,000 and the high end at slightly more than $2.2 million.
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Despite serving 31 years in Congress, Graham ranked 294th in estimated wealth among the 535 voting members of Congress, according to data compiled by Quiver Quantitative.
The South Carolina Republican died at age 71, with a net worth modest compared with that of many longtime members of Congress.
According to Fidelity, Americans ages 65 to 74 have an average net worth of about $1.79 million, while the median net worth for that age group is approximately $409,900.
Unlike many members of Congress who have faced scrutiny over trading individual stocks, like Pelosi and her husband, Paul, Graham’s financial disclosure reports showed that the vast majority of his investments were held in mutual funds and U.S. government bonds, avoiding one of the most common ethics controversies on Capitol Hill.
He, too, earned an annual salary of around $174,000.
Although his finances were modest by Washington standards, Graham’s life began far from the nation’s political center.
He grew up in Central, South Carolina, where he lived with his parents and younger sister in a small room attached to the family’s restaurant before they later moved into a mobile home.
“It’s not a log cabin like Abe Lincoln, but he grew up in a mobile home, which is South Carolina’s equivalent of it, I guess,” Warren Mowry, Graham’s law school roommate, said in 2015.
Graham has also said that his dad owned “a bar.”
Tragedy struck early in his adult life.
Shortly after leaving home for college, both of his parents died within a short period, leaving the 22-year-old responsible for raising his 13-year-old sister.
An Air Force veteran, Graham also became the first member of his family to attend college.
Graham died Saturday night following what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness” after returning from a trip to Ukraine.
The District of Columbia medical examiner’s office said preliminary findings indicated he died from an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
The official cause of death remains pending the results of final toxicology and microscopic testing.
“I can’t die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out and do Israeli-Saudi normalization,” Graham joked shortly before his death, according to a source close to the lawmaker.
His sister, Darline Graham, was sworn into the U.S. Senate last week after her brother’s death.
She is now considering running to keep the seat in the upcoming South Carolina special election, according to a person familiar with private discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
If she enters the race, it would mark a significant shift from what many Republicans initially believed would be a temporary appointment.
President Donald Trump publicly backed her selection by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) and he ha since expressed support for her Senate candidacy.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
