John Edwards

John Edwards, born in 1953, Democratic member of the United States Senate from North Carolina from 1999 to 2005, the vice-presidential running mate of Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, in 2004, and an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

Edwards was born in Seneca, South Carolina, and at an early age moved with his family to Robbins, North Carolina. In 1974 he received a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, and in 1977 received a law degree from the University of North Carolina Law School, in Chapel Hill. He worked in a Raleigh law office before opening his own law firm in 1992. Specializing in personal injury lawsuits, Edwards’s firm won a public service award in 1997 from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

Edwards first ran for elected office in 1998 when he campaigned for the U.S. Senate seat from North Carolina. In that hard-fought election, Edwards defeated Republican incumbent Lauch Faircloth by the narrow margin of 51 percent to 47 percent of the vote.

In the Senate Edwards was considered a centrist who supported campaign finance reform and fiscal responsibility. He also sponsored legislation to increase the country’s preparedness in case of a terrorist attack.

In 2003 Edwards announced that he was seeking the Democratic nomination for president in the 2004 election. He bowed out of the presidential race in March 2004 after winning only the South Carolina primary and later threw his support to Democratic frontrunner John F. Kerry. However, Edwards attracted considerable attention as a fresh face whose message of creating more opportunity for all Americans earned him second place in a number of primaries and caucuses. Partly because of his strong showing, in July Kerry selected Edwards as his vice-presidential running mate. Both men were formally nominated at the Democratic Party convention later that month, but they were defeated in the November 2004 elections. Edwards had previously decided not to seek reelection to the Senate. He retired from the Senate in January 2005 when his term expired.

In December 2006 Edwards formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. Following the 2004 election, Edwards distanced himself from the Kerry campaign’s ambivalent stance on the U.S.-Iraq War. He said that his vote for the Senate resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq had been a mistake. In announcing his presidential candidacy, Edwards called for a U.S. troop reduction in Iraq and indicated that he planned to campaign on economic issues facing workers and the middle class, global warming, and U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

Edwards’s campaign for the presidential nomination ended in January 2008. He failed to win either the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary and after placing third in the South Carolina primary, he dropped out of the race.