Watch Lindsey Graham's touching, tearful tribute to John McCain on the Senate floor

Lindsey Graham.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN Politics)

Senators took to the floor Tuesday to share memories of the late Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday a year after being diagnosed with brain cancer. And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who's long considered McCain his closest friend and mentor in the Senate, had one of the most touching salutes of all.

Graham kicked off his tribute with one of the jokes McCain was well-known for: how McCain often wished Graham was in his U.S. Naval Academy class because he would've "been sixth from the bottom, not fifth." A few more rapid-fire jokes was as far as Graham made it before the tears began:

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Next up came Graham's commendation of McCain's military and public service, which he said taught him that "serving a cause greater than yourself hurts." McCain couldn't put on a jacket or comb his hair thanks to the injuries he sustained in the Navy, Graham said, but he still showed Graham how to "fight everything and everybody," and also how to forgive. Graham then tearfully described just how it made him feel to be "loved by" McCain:

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The senator rounded off his tribute with a nod to the future, saying there's "a little John McCain in all of us. And a little John McCain, practiced by a lot of people, can make this a really great nation." Watch it all on CSPAN.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.