John Edwards

Biography

John Edwards is a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, vice presidential nominee and presidential candidate. 

Early Life

Johnny Reid Edwards was born June 10, 1953, to Wallace and Bobbie Edwards in Seneca, S.C.

After Edwards finished the sixth grade, his family moved to the small town of Robbins in Moore County. His father eventually became a supervisor at the textile plant, and his mother ran an antiques store and then worked at the post office.

His younger brother, Blake, lives in Fuquay-Varina.

Education

Edwards earned a bachelor of science in textile management with honors from N.C. State University in 1974. While in school, he held a part-time job unloading trucks for UPS.

In 1977, he earned a law degree with honors from UNC-Chapel Hill. 

Family

In law school, Edwards met Elizabeth Anania in a basement snack bar. The two were married in 1977, the day after he passed the bar exam. They held their reception at the Carolina Inn.

In 1979, they had a son, Wade. He died in a car accident on Interstate 40 on April 4, 1996, and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh.

In 1982, they had a daughter, Cate. She graduated from Princeton University and is currently attending Harvard University's law school.

In 1998, they had a daughter Emma Claire, and in 2000, a son, Jack.

Professional Career

After law school, Edwards clerked for a federal judge. He and Elizabeth then moved to Nashville, Tenn., where he worked for blue-chip law firm Dearborn & Ewing. 

In 1981, the family moved to Raleigh, where Edwards started a civil litigation section at the Tharrington, Smith & Hargrove law firm. One of the partners, Wade Smith, was later head of the state Democratic Party.

The practice turned out to be highly lucrative, turning Edwards into a multimillionaire and one of the state's top trial lawyers. His adversaries in the courtroom were often doctors, hospitals and insurance companies.

In 1990, he was named to the Inner Circle of Advocates, an elite group of the 100 most successful personal injury lawyers in the country.

He left to start his own firm with David Kirby in 1993. Three years later, they were named among eight "lawyers of the year" by Lawyers Weekly USA, a trade journal. 

In 1997, Edwards won a $25 million damage award — the largest in state history — for the family of a Cary girl whose intestines were sucked out of her body by a defective wading pool drain.

U.S. Senate

In 1998, Edwards joined a crowded Democratic primary to run against U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth.

After then Attorney General Mike Easley and former Senate candidate Charles Sanders decided not to run, Edwards emerged as the front-runner among seven Democratic contenders, handily defeating UNC vice president D.G. Martin.

He beat Faircloth in one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races, 51 to 47 percent. In all, he spent more than $6 million of his own money on the campaign.

As a senator, he assisted with the impeachment defense of President Clinton and led efforts for a patient's bill of rights.

In 2000, he was on a short list of candidates to be Al Gore's running mate that included Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey and the eventual choice, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. Gore reportedly told Edwards that he would be president someday regardless.

2004 Campaign and Aftermath

In 2004, Edwards ran in the Democratic primary for president, losing to John Kerry, who chose him as a vice presidential candidate.

He then served as part-time director of the newly created Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity based at UNC-Chapel Hill. The think tank, which has three employees, was endowed by a $2 million grant from a Chapel Hill couple who were major Edwards donors.

In October of 2005, Edwards became a paid consultant for the Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based firm that works mainly with hedge funds. He left the job shortly before the end of 2006. 

In an op-ed column in the Washington Post published on Nov. 13, 2005, he said his vote for the Iraq war resolution was a mistake.

2008 Campaign 

On Dec. 28, 2006, he announced a second campaign for the Democratic nomination for president from a hurricane-ravaged neighborhood in New Orleans.

In February, he became the first candidate in the 2008 race to propose a plan for universal health care. He said he would pay for the estimated $90 to $120 billion annual cost by undoing recent tax cuts for the wealthy.

On March 22, he and Elizabeth announced in a press conference that her breast cancer had recurred, but they said the campaign would continue.

On April 30, a book he co-edited called "Ending Poverty in America" was released by the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. Edwards contributed a short afterword in which he proposed policies to combat poverty.

In the book, Edwards called for ending poverty within 30 years. 

In a speech at the Sheraton New York on June 7, he announced an anti-terrorism plan.

It called for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, restoring habeas corpus to foreign nationals, banning torture, centralizing the federal security budget and creating a 10,000-member "Marshall Corps" to help stabilize countries at risk of becoming havens for terrorists.  

Edwards' initial plan to use the Jan. 4 Iowa caucuses to boost his campaign faltered when he came in second place to Sen. Barack Obama. He then switched gears, portraying it as a two-person race with Obama. That plan also faltered when Clinton won New Hampshire and Edwards came in third.

Edwards vowed to stay in the race to the convention, hoping that a win in union-heavy Nevada could be a lifeline, but he lost a crucial endorsement to Obama. Despite favorable poll numbers heading in, he came in a distant third.

After losses in South Carolina, the site of a 2004 win, and Florida, in which none of the candidates competed in 2008, Edwards announced he would drop out on Jan. 30.

Compiled from research and reporting by Susan Ebbs, Rob Christensen and Ryan Teague Beckwith. 

Other Sources

"A fresh Democratic face," N&O, April 21, 1998.

"Facing the nation," N&O, Feb. 10, 2002. 

"Skills bring big rewards," N&O, Sept. 9, 2003.

"Deep retreat, then a rally," N&O, Sept. 12, 2003. 

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