US midterms 2026: Viral video claims Lindsey Graham paid underage men for sex; clip released weeks before his sister's Senate race

A video released Thursday (Oct 22) by a left-leaning online network alleges that Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died suddenly in July, paid young men, including underage teens, for sex. The video, which is going viral on social media platforms, including Elon Musk's X, features three men who claim that Graham hired them for sex.

What the video alleges

The over 30-minute film, released by the Young Turks network, titled "The CLOSETocracy," centres on three accounts. One man, identified only as Kelvin, says Graham paid him for sex when he was 17 and secretly taped the encounter. Another, named Cory, says a chauffeured car took him to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, where he was paid to have sex and stay the night with Graham, only recognising the senator months later on television during the 2016 presidential race. A third man says he was paid for a sexual encounter with Graham.

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A website promoting the video, called the Lindsey Graham Files, claims to have travel receipts and other documents from the time of the alleged encounters. Cenk Uygur, a Young Turks co-founder, promoted the video as a "bombshell documentary." Watch it here:

Full video here:

Notably, the man identified as Cory has also appeared in adult films under the name Sean Harding. In 2020, he posted online that "every sex worker I know has been hired by this man," referring to a Republican senator he said had the initials "LG," reports The New York Times.

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A claim Graham could not refute

Notably, the video landed less than two weeks before the midterms, in which Graham's sister, Senator Darline Graham, is in a tight race to keep his seat. Appointed to finish his term after his death, she received President Trump's endorsement.

William Timmons, a Republican congressman from South Carolina, on X called Graham his longtime mentor and friend, writing that "after 45 years of service to South Carolina and our country, he deserves better than the Left spreading disgraceful lies about a man who is no longer here to defend himself."

Some on the right shrugged off the allegations. "Dear Democrats, This is why we called him Lady Graham," Andrew Kolvet of Turning Point USA wrote. "This isn't an October surprise, we've known this for years."

Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former Georgia representative who left Congress this year, called the men "brave," writing that "the worst kept secret in Washington DC came out today."

Graham, who died at 71 of an aortic dissection, never married and always denied being gay. In a 2010 interview, he said, "I ain't gay. Sorry." During 23 years in the Senate, he opposed same-sex marriage, voted against repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and resisted expanding hate crime laws to cover sexual orientation.