In late March 2026, a photo circulated online purportedly showing Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina holding a child's bubble-blowing wand while enjoying himself at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Some social media users shared the picture while referencing the ongoing partial government shutdown that, among other issues, caused significant delays at airports across the United States.
One Facebook page that posted the photograph wrote (archived), "Lindsey Graham spotted at Disney World with a bubble wand," while a Reddit user said (archived), "Lindsey Graham is at Disney World During Partial Government Shutdown."
The photo of Graham is authentic. Entertainment news outlet TMZ published the picture after the tabloid website encouraged readers to send photographs of members of Congress "enjoying their time off" during the shutdown.
The photograph of Graham was one such picture, and the outlet posted it to its website and social media on March 30 with a TMZ watermark. The same article included photos of other lawmakers, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and Ted Cruz, R-TX, and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-CA, on airplanes over the weekend.
TMZ also posted a separate article that allegedly depicted Graham in line for the rollercoaster Space Mountain. TMZ wrote, "he spent 3 days at the Mouse House over the weekend after failing to talk his colleagues into keeping the government open."
A spokesperson for Graham confirmed via email that the photos are authentic and said the senator returned to South Carolina from Florida on March 29, a day before the photograph was published.
Graham's spokesperson shared the same statement published by TMZ, in which Graham was quoted as saying:
I was invited to a meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff and others to talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. I went to Orlando to meet friends after. I'm already back in South Carolina.
I voted 7 times to fully fund the government. Call a Democrat.
Following TMZ's publication, Graham also made an X post featuring a photograph of himself holding a firearm and wrote, "Spent some time breaking clays in Edgefield County today." Edgefield County is located in South Carolina.
Other outlets reported on Graham's sojourn to Disney World, including The Hill, The Daily Beast and Entertainment Weekly.