diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a6983a77..00ac2c63 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
 Links "DE#nnn" prior to version 2.0 point to the Dash Enterprise closed-source Dash AG Grid repo
 
 ## [unreleased]
+
 ### Added
 - [#453](https://github.com/plotly/dash-ag-grid/pull/453) Test for changelog entry
 
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ Links "DE#nnn" prior to version 2.0 point to the Dash Enterprise closed-source D
 - [#454](https://github.com/plotly/dash-ag-grid/pull/454) fixes issue where a rowCount of 0 would cause the grid not to display new data
 - [#459](https://github.com/plotly/dash-ag-grid/pull/459) removes `getRowsRequest` / `getRowsResponse` warnings by excluding these Dash callback props from AG Grid options.
 - [#460](https://github.com/plotly/dash-ag-grid/pull/460) fix grid rendering when `getRowId` is explicitly set to `None`
+- [#466](https://github.com/plotly/dash-ag-grid/issues/466) guard against a null `gridApi` in `onSortChanged`, which threw an uncaught `TypeError` when a grid initialized with a sort applied via `initialState.sort.sortModel`
 
 ## [35.2.0] - 2026-04-03
 ### Added 
diff --git a/src/lib/fragments/AgGrid.react.js b/src/lib/fragments/AgGrid.react.js
index 0ca51e81..0d6e928e 100644
--- a/src/lib/fragments/AgGrid.react.js
+++ b/src/lib/fragments/AgGrid.react.js
@@ -756,7 +756,7 @@ export function DashAgGrid(props) {
         if (rowModelType === 'clientSide') {
             propsToSet.virtualRowData = virtualRowData();
         }
-        if (!gridApi.isDestroyed()) {
+        if (gridApi && !gridApi?.isDestroyed()) {
             propsToSet.columnState = JSON.parse(
                 JSON.stringify(gridApi.getColumnState())
             );