President Donald Trump has nominated Cissie Graham Lynch to serve as ambassador at large for international religious freedom, placing a member of one of America’s most prominent evangelical families in a key diplomatic post. The nomination was included on a list of dozens of picks the White House sent to the Senate on Monday, according to Breitbart News.
Lynch is the daughter of Rev. Franklin Graham and the granddaughter of Rev. Billy Graham. Her father celebrated the news in a post on X, calling his daughter “uniquely qualified” for the job and noting that she has “traveled the world and been a student of this issue for many years.”
“She has a broad worldview and knowledge of the issues facing religious freedom today,” Franklin Graham wrote. “If confirmed by the Senate, she will bring a passion for defending religious freedom to this office.” He added that he was proud and asked supporters to pray for her.
Lynch responded in her own post on X, saying that filling the role would be a “great honor and privilege,” and requesting prayers that she would “make the most of every opportunity to protect our most precious and fundamental right—and one that far too many people around the world still live without—freedom of religion.”
A public figure in her own right
While Lynch may be best known for her famous relatives, she has built a public profile of her own. She is an author and speaker who hosts a podcast called “Fearless,” the Christian Post reported. She has also worked with Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, two organizations closely associated with her family’s ministry.
Her public appearances include speaking at the Rededicate 250 prayer event, which commemorated America’s 250th anniversary, and at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
The ambassador-at-large position, created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, would put Lynch in charge of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. She would also serve as a top adviser to the secretary of state and the president on religious freedom issues abroad.
Senate math and a previous nominee
Lynch’s nomination must be approved by the Senate before she can assume the role. With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority, she appears positioned to secure confirmation if the vote falls along party lines, though defections or procedural hurdles could complicate the path.
Trump’s decision to tap Lynch follows the unsuccessful nomination of former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), whom the administration had previously put forward for the same post. Walker was not confirmed before the end of 2025. He was ultimately appointed to a different position at the State Department, where he works as principal adviser for global religious freedom, according to the report.
The nomination adds another chapter to the long entanglement of the Graham family with American political life. Billy Graham, who died in 2018, advised multiple presidents over a career that spanned decades, while Franklin Graham has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and a frequent presence in conservative politics. Lynch’s rise to a Senate-confirmable post reflects both her family’s enduring influence and her own separate career in ministry and media.
If confirmed, she would inherit a portfolio that has drawn increasing attention in Washington as the administration has emphasized religious liberty as a foreign policy priority. The office she would lead monitors and reports on violations of religious freedom around the world and recommends sanctions against governments and entities accused of persecuting religious minorities.
The White House has not announced a timeline for her confirmation hearing. The nominations were transmitted to the Senate on Monday as part of a broader batch of executive branch picks, and Senate leaders have not indicated when the chamber might take up her nomination.
For now, the nomination signals the administration’s intent to fill a position that has sat without a confirmed occupant through the previous nomination cycle. Whether Lynch gets a smooth path or a contentious hearing may depend on how senators from both parties choose to approach a post that has historically drawn bipartisan support—and occasional friction over the scope of U.S. pressure on allied governments.
Reporting based on Breitbart News and the Christian Post.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/09/16/president-trump-nominates-franklin-grahams-daughter-cissie-graham-lynch-serve-religious-freedom-ambassador/