Lawmakers from North Carolina are growing tired of waiting for the late Rev. Billy Graham, a renowned evangelist, to be honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol.

The process started a few years ago, and while it was going to take time to get the statue added, lawmakers say it is still not happening quickly enough.

What You Need To Know

  • Lawmakers from North Carolina are frustrated waiting for a statue of the late evangelist Rev. Billy Graham to be added to the U.S. Capitol

  • In 2015, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to replace a statue of former Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock, who held white supremacy beliefs, with one of Graham

  • Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., joined with other North Carolina lawmakers to support recent legislation aimed at expediting the process

  • The bill would mandate the Architect of the Capitol to approve or deny the design of the statue within 30 days

Artist Chas Fagan, who was chosen to create the statue, said he is doing his own research to make sure he gets his likeness of Graham just right. 

Fagan, a sculptor living in Charlotte, North Carolina, has sculpted a number of prominent figures, including the statues of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush that sit outside the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas, and a statue of former President Ronald Reagan that adorns the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

Now he's working on a sculpture of Graham, a North Carolina native referred to as "America's Pastor" by then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at his memorial service at the U.S. Capitol in 2018.

"He was a great ambassador for just the American idea for self-determination and all those good, basic things. You are what you say you want to be," Fagan told Spectrum News. 

Each state is allowed to display two statues in the U.S. Capitol. In 2015, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to replace a statue of former Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock, who held white supremacy beliefs, with one of Graham. 

But some lawmakers say the process is moving too slowly.

"Very, very frustrated," Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said.

Murphy joined with other North Carolina lawmakers to support recent legislation aimed at expediting the process. The bill would mandate the Architect of the Capitol to approve or deny the design of the statue within 30 days.

"It’s not acceptable. It wouldn’t be acceptable in the private world, and it shouldn’t be acceptable with the U.S. government," Murphy said.

Meanwhile, Fagan says he is still crafting the story of Graham as he waits for approval from Washington.

"Every sculpture is a story and I’m trying to communicate that," Fagan said.

He’s done enough sculptures now where he’s used to these waits, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his eyes on the finished product. 

"My dream is to witness when the ceremony is done, the tourists are coming through the Capitol. I’d love to see that," Fagan said.

North Carolina's other statue at the Capitol is of Zebulon Vance, a former Confederate military officer who represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served twice as its governor. Former state Rep. Charles Jeter, R-N.C., who sponsored the bill to get rid of the Aycock statue, told Spectrum News that he would encourage the state legislature to also look at replacing the Vance statue.