Joint Base Charleston to be renamed in honor of Lindsey Graham, reports say

A major military installation in South Carolina will be renamed in honor of the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Read more Beshear says Senate could expel McConnell, urges him to give more health info or resign

Joint Base Charleston, a combined air and naval facility on the S.C. coast, will become Joint Base Lindsey Graham, according to a memo from the Secretary of the Air Force.

Plans to rename the base were first reported by the Post and Courier.

“Senator Graham’s lifelong devotion to the military was shaped by his own military service and his public service in both the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives,” Air Force Secretary Troy Mienk says in the memo cited in the report. “His steadfast advocacy was instrumental in modernizing our military infrastructure and enhancing aviation security, ensuring that Joint Base Charleston remains one of America’s premier military installations.”

Mienk calls on the Air Force to “take all necessary and appropriate action” to rename the joint base in honor of Graham.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt seemed to confirm the reporting when she tweeted the news on Tuesday.

Graham, who died July 11 after representing South Carolina in the Senate since 2003, was a long-time member of the U.S. Air Force. He served on active duty with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1982 to 1989, then later served in the S.C. Air National Guard and in the Air Force Reserve. Graham retired in 2015 with the rank of colonel.

News of the renaming came as Graham was being honored by laying in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda ahead of a service at Washington’s National Cathedral on Tuesday. The late senator will be honored in Columbia on Wednesday — including a procession from the S.C. State House and a flyover by planes from McEntire Joint National Guard Base — followed by a funeral service at First Baptist Church.

The plan to rename Joint Base Charleston received some pushback Tuesday from state Sen. Ed Sutton, D-Charleston, who called for a pause on the change in a post on X.

“Senator Graham was a major asset to South Carolina’s military community, but renaming Joint Base Charleston this fast feels like another rushed decision with no local input,” Sutton wrote in the post. “Charleston Air Force Base has carried that name since the 1940s. Honor him, yes. Erase local tradition by fiat, no.”

Read more Live coverage: U.S. leaders, family honor Lindsey Graham in D.C. services