He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in North Carolina's 1998 Senate election. Towards the end of his single six-year term, he sought the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2004 presidential election. He eventually became the 2004 Democratic candidate for vice-president, the running mate of presidential nominee Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Following Kerry's loss to incumbent President George W. Bush, Edwards began working full-time at the One America Committee, a political action committee he established in 2001, and was appointed director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. He was also a consultant for Fortress Investment Group LLC. Edwards launched a second bid for the Democratic nomination during the 2008 presidential campaign.
On June 3, 2011, Edwards was indicted by a North Carolina grand jury on six felony charges of violating multiple federal campaign contribution laws to cover up an an extramarital affair he admitted to following his 2008 campaign. If convicted, Edwards faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine.[2] In December 2011, Edwards announced that he had been diagnosed with a medical condition which would make it hard for him to attend his trial, which was to begin January 30, 2012. Edwards' lawyers asked that the start of the trial be delayed for at least two months, and did not identify what Edwards' specific illness was.
While at UNC, he met Elizabeth Anania. They married in 1977 and had four children (Wade in 1979, Cate in 1982, Emma Claire in 1998, and Jack in 2000). Edwards also has a child out of wedlock named Frances Quinn Hunter, conceived with his former mistress Rielle Hunter. Edwards denied being the father for over two years before finally admitting to it in 2010.
Wade was killed in a car accident when strong winds swept his Jeep off a North Carolina highway in 1996. Three weeks before his death, Wade was honored by First Lady Hillary Clinton at The White House as one of the 10 finalists in an essay contest sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Voice of America for an essay he wrote on entering the voting booth with his father.[69] Wade, accompanied by his parents and sister, went on to meet North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, who entered Wade's essay and his obituary into the Congressional Record.[70] Edwards and his wife began the Wade Edwards Foundation in their son's memory; the purpose of the non-profit organization is "to reward, encourage, and inspire young people in the pursuit of excellence." The Foundation funded the Wade Edwards Learning Lab at Wade's high school, Broughton High School in Raleigh, along with scholarship competitions and essay awards.
On November 3, 2004, Elizabeth Edwards revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was treated via chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and continued to work within the Democratic Party and her husband's One America Committee. On March 22, 2007, during his campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination for the presidency, Edwards and his wife announced that her cancer had returned; she was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, with newly discovered metastases to the bone and possibly to her lung. They said that the cancer was "no longer curable, but is completely treatable" and that they planned to continue campaigning together with an occasional break when she requires treatment. After Edwards' January 21, 2010, admission that he fathered a child with his mistress, Elizabeth legally separated from him and intended to file for divorce after a mandatory one-year waiting period.
In the proposal, which The New York Times examined, Young claims to have set up private meetings between Edwards and Hunter. He wrote that Edwards once calmed an anxious Hunter by promising her that after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.[90] ABC News reports that Young stated that Edwards asked him to "Get a doctor to fake the DNA results...and to steal a diaper from the baby so he could secretly do a DNA test to find out if this was indeed his child. On February 2, 2010, Young released a book detailing the affair.
In May 2009, newspapers reported that Edwards' campaign was being investigated for conversion of campaign money to personal use related to the affair. Edwards said that the campaign was complying with the inquiry. The relevant US attorney refused to comment. In the same month, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News reported that members of Edwards' staff had told him that they had planned a "doomsday strategy" to derail Edwards' campaign if he got close to the nomination.[94] Joe Trippi, a senior advisor to the campaign, said the report was "complete bullshit". In August 2009, Rielle Hunter appeared before the grand jury investigating this matter.[96] On March 15, 2010, Hunter broke her silence during an interview with GQ magazine and provided new details about the affair. In March 2011, voicemail messages allegedly left by John Edwards were obtained, which Young says prove that Edwards arranged the cover up of his affair with Hunter.Reports have recently surfaced in late 2011 in The National Enquirer and Radar Online.com, that Edwards has asked his former mistress to move into his North Carolina home which he shared with his wife.
Indictment
On May 24, 2011, ABC News and The New York Times reported that the United States Department of Justice conducted a two-year investigation into whether Edwards used more than $1 million in political donations to hide his affair and plans to pursue criminal charges against Edwards for alleged violations of campaign laws.
On June 3, 2011, Edwards was indicted by a North Carolina grand jury on six felony charges, including four counts of collecting illegal campaign contributions, one count of conspiracy and one count of making false statements. If convicted, Edwards faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine.
The trial date has been set for January 30, 2012.
Bibliography
Four Trials (with John Auchard) (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003) ISBN 0743244974
Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives (New York: Collins, 2006) ISBN 0060884541
Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream, co-editor (New Press, 2007) ISBN 1595581766
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