John Edwards
John Edwards was a United States senator for North Carolina, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 2004, and the subject of one of the most complete political collapses in modern American history. Born in Seneca, South Carolina in 1953 and raised in Robbins, North Carolina, he was the son of a textile mill worker and the first in his family to attend college, taking a law degree at the University of North Carolina. He became one of the most successful personal injury lawyers in the state, winning very large verdicts in medical malpractice and product liability cases, including a case involving a child disembowelled by a defective swimming pool drain. He made a fortune, which supported his politics and supplied his opponents with material. He won a Senate seat in 1998, defeating an incumbent Republican. He served a single term, sitting on the intelligence committee and voting for the Iraq war authorisation in 2002, a vote he later called a mistake. He ran for president in 2004 on the theme of two Americas, one for the privileged and one for everyone else, and after finishing second in the primaries was chosen by John Kerry as running mate. The ticket lost. His wife Elizabeth was diagnosed with breast cancer the day after that election. He ran again in 2008, pushing the field towards universal health coverage. During that campaign he had an affair with Rielle Hunter, a videographer, and fathered a child with her while Elizabeth's cancer was terminal. He denied it repeatedly, and an aide falsely claimed paternity. He admitted the affair in 2008 and the child in 2010. He was tried in 2012 over campaign funds used to conceal it and acquitted on one count, with a mistrial on the rest.
- Lived: 1953 CE – ?
- Nationality: American
- Roles: senator
