The former US senator John Warner of Virginia, who at times clashed with fellow Republicans during his three decades in office, has died of heart failure. He was 94.
Warner died late on Tuesday, with his wife and daughter at his side, his chief of staff, Susan Magill, said in an email to family and friends, according to a Politico report on Wednesday. The Washington Post said he died in Alexandria, Virginia.
President Joe Biden led tributes to Warner, saying he “lived an extraordinary life of service and accomplishment”.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Biden said: “I had the privilege of serving alongside John in the Senate for three decades. The John Warner I knew was guided by two things: his conscience and our Constitution. And, when acting in accordance with both, he neither wavered in his convictions nor was concerned with the consequences.”
The Democrat added: “When told that if he voted in a way that was not in line with his party’s position—as he did numerous times on issues of rational gun policy, women’s rights, and judicial nominees—that “people would say,” his favorite rejoinder was, “Let ‘em say it.”
“Indeed, that was his response when, in one of the great honors of my career, he crossed party lines to support me in the 2020 election.”
Warner was an influential voice in Congress on military policy and served in the US Senate for five terms from 1979 to 2009. He was also the sixth husband of the actor Elizabeth Taylor.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said the flags around the Senate side of the US Capitol would be lowered to half-staff in honor of the late senator.
“On behalf of the Senate, I want to express our condolences to his family and his friends, and our gratitude for amazing service to America throughout his life,” the Democratic leader said in a floor speech on Wednesday.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam described Warner as “the best of what public service and elected leadership should be”.
“Virginia, and America, have lost a giant,” the Democrat said in a statement. “As a sailor, a senator, a statesman, and a gentleman, former US Senator John Warner spent his life in public service.”
Current Virginia senator Mark Warner (no relation) tweeted: “I’m devastated to hear of the passing of my dear friend John Warner. To me, he was the gold standard in Virginia. I will forever be grateful for his friendship and mentorship. I’ll miss you, John.”
A former chairman of the Senate armed services committee, Warner openly criticized President George W Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and called on him in 2007 to begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq.
The decision put Warner in the center of a growing debate in Congress over the conflict. Warner spent months trying to develop an approach to US policy in Iraq that was supported by Republicans and Democrats.
During his time in office, Warner clashed with fellow Republican senators on domestic issues, voting in some cases for government funding of abortions and supporting some gun control measures. In 1994, he refused to support the conservative Republican candidate for Senate Oliver North.
The Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said he often turned for advice to Warner, whom he called a “public servant who stood on principle, made us proud, and exemplified the best of what politics can be”.
“He was a Gentleman who maintained civility in his politics in an era of rising intolerance,” his fellow Virginian the US representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat, said on Twitter.
Warner, who enlisted in the navy during the second world war at the age of 17, also served in the Marine Corps in Korea. He was secretary of the navy from 1972 to 1974 in President Richard Nixon’s administration.
Reuters contributed to this report