--- title: John McCain, Lindsey Graham Still Friends After Health Care description: Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain are showing there are no hard feelings after McCain publicly opposed the former's health care bill canonical: https://time.com/4954193/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-still-friends-healthcare/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-22T20:00:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:33:55.283Z article:section: Politics og:title: Graham and McCain Are Still Best Friends Even After His Health Care Decision og:description: "My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes" og:url: https://time.com/4954193/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-still-friends-healthcare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb89a9dc55ebadaac/6988df14929fadf6f6bedca9/gettyimages-823245876.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senators Debate Health Care Bill On Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Graham and McCain Are Still Best Friends Even After His Health Care Decision twitter:description: "My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb89a9dc55ebadaac/6988df14929fadf6f6bedca9/gettyimages-823245876.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lindsey Graham and John McCain Are Still Best Friends Even After His Health Care Decision > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Sep 22, 2017 8:00 PM UTC  U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (L), who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) head for the Senate Floor for a vote at the U.S. Capitol July 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (L), who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) head for the Senate Floor for a vote at the U.S. Capitol July 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photograph by Chip Somodevilla—Getty by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Sep 22, 2017 8:00 PM UTC Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain are making sure everyone knows there are no hard feelings after McCain [publicly opposed a health care bill co-authored by Graham.](http://time.com/4953920/health-care-john-mccain-graham-cassidy-vote/) “My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes but respect for how he’s lived his life and the person he is,” Graham tweeted. McCain, who [is good friends with Graham](http://time.com/3828291/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-joe-lieberman-president/), announced Friday that he planned to vote no on the bill, making it highly unlikely to pass. He also voted against the last health care proposal in July, and it was speculated that [Graham was hoping McCain would support this effort.](http://time.com/4950833/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-republican-health-care-bill/) > [](https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/911307126190100480) Graham added that he respectfully disagrees with McCain, saying that the bill is the best chance at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. McCain said that he could not “in good conscience vote for [the Graham-Cassidy proposal](http://time.com/money/4950098/how-the-new-republican-health-bill-fails-the-jimmy-kimmel-test/),” but made sure to note that it wasn’t personal. “The bill’s authors are my dear friends, and I think the world of them. I know they are acting consistently with their beliefs and sense of what is best for the country. So am I,” McCain said in a statement on his decision. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4954193/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-still-friends-healthcare/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4954193/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-still-friends-healthcare/"},"headline":"Lindsey Graham and John McCain Are Still Best Friends Even After His Health Care Decision","datePublished":"2017-09-22T20:00:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:33:55.283Z","description":"\"My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes\"","url":"https://time.com/4954193/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-still-friends-healthcare/","keywords":["Senate","politics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb89a9dc55ebadaac/6988df14929fadf6f6bedca9/gettyimages-823245876.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb89a9dc55ebadaac/6988df14929fadf6f6bedca9/gettyimages-823245876.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senators Debate Health Care Bill On Capitol Hill","caption":"Senators Debate Health Care Bill On Capitol Hill","creditText":"Photograph by Chip Somodevilla—Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/senate/","name":"Senate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4954193/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-still-friends-healthcare/","name":"Lindsey Graham and John McCain Are Still Best Friends Even After His Health Care Decision"}}]}] ```