Edwards, John (1953-…), was the Democratic nominee for vice president of the United States in 2004. Edwards and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presidential nominee, lost to their Republican opponents, President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney. At the time of the election, Edwards represented North Carolina in the United States Senate. Edwards served in the Senate from 1999 to 2005.
Johnny Reid Edwards was born on June 10, 1953, in Seneca, South Carolina, and he grew up in Robbins, North Carolina. He earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University in 1974 and a law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1977. After graduation, Edwards married Elizabeth Anania, whom he had met in a law class. The couple legally separated in 2010, and Elizabeth died later that year. They had four children—Wade, Catharine, Emma Claire, and John Atticus, who is called Jack. In 1996, Wade died at age 16 in a Jeep accident. In 2008, Edwards became the father of another daughter, Frances Quinn—the product of an extramarital affair with videographer Rielle Hunter. Hunter had worked on Edwards’s campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Edwards worked as a law clerk to a federal judge from 1977 to 1978, when he joined a law firm in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1981, he moved to a law firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1993, he and a partner established their own law firm, Edwards and Kirby. Edwards specialized in personal injury cases in which ordinary people sued huge corporations. He won large settlements for the injured person in a number of such cases.
Edwards ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1998. He won the election and took office in 1999. That year, he was chosen by fellow senators to question key witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. Edwards also delivered the closing argument for the defense. The Senate found the president not guilty.
In 2001, Edwards was a co-sponsor with Democratic Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Republican Senator John S. McCain of a Patients’ Bill of Rights. This bill was designed to guarantee people a right to choose their own doctor and make decisions with that doctor without such choices being overly influenced or dictated by insurers or health maintenance organizations (HMO’s). In addition, it would have increased the right of patients to sue health plans that delayed or denied necessary medical treatment. The Senate approved the bill, but the U.S. House of Representatives did not pass it.
In 2003, Edwards declared his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. He dropped out of the race in March 2004, however, after it became clear he could not overtake John Kerry. In early July, Kerry asked Edwards to be his running mate. At the Democratic Party convention in Boston in late July, delegates officially named Kerry and Edwards as the party’s nominees.
Edwards had announced in 2003 that he would not seek reelection to the Senate, so he could concentrate on the presidential race. His Senate term ended in January 2005. From February 2005 to December 2006, Edwards served as director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina. The center focuses on developing ways to help lift people out of poverty. In December 2006, Edwards announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. However, he dropped out of the race in January 2008 after finishing poorly in early caucus and primary contests.
In June 2011, federal prosecutors charged Edwards with using illegal campaign contributions to cover up his extramarital affair with Hunter. The indictment also included charges of conspiracy and making false statements. A trial began in April 2012. In May, a jury found Edwards not guilty of one of six charges but remained deadlocked on the rest. Federal prosecutors dropped the remaining charges against Edwards in June.
