Joe Lieberman, former senator, VP nominee, dies
WASHINGTON – Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic nominee for vice president who later became a political independent, died of complications from a fall, his family announced Wednesday. He was 82.
“Senator Lieberman’s love of God, his family, and America endured throughout his life of service in the public interest,” his family said in a written statement.
Lieberman, a former Connecticut state senator and attorney general who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1988, developed a reputation for bipartisanship during his years in Washington.
After former Vice President Al Gore clinched the presidential nomination in 2000, he made Lieberman his running mate in part because the senator had criticized President Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Lieberman was the first Jewish-American candidate on a major party ticket.
The Gore-Lieberman ticket lost to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney after a contentious and still-disputed recount in Florida.
Over the years, the foreign policy hawk became more distant from the Democratic Party base.
While Lieberman backed many Democratic causes – including abortion rights, environmentalism and gun control – he also cut his own path in advocating an aggressive foreign policy.
Lieberman’s support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq alienated him from many members of his party, and he wound up losing a Democratic primary when he ran again for the Senate in 2006.
He then ran as an independent and won the general election for his fourth and final term in the U.S. Senate.
He maintained an independent stance, to the point where Republican nominee John McCain considered him to be his running mate in 2008.
Lieberman did speak at that year’s Republican convention, praising McCain while denigrating that year’s Democratic nominee, future President Barack Obama.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “devastated” by Lieberman’s death: “My heart is with his beloved wife Hadassah and his family, and I am praying for all who knew and loved him.”
After declining to seek reelection in 2012, Lieberman sought to remain active in political life. He was considered for FBI director by President Donald Trump after the firing of James Comey in 2017.
More recently, Lieberman worked with the “No Labels” organization in seeking a third-party alternative to President Joe Biden and Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
In their statement, the Lieberman family said his wife, Hadassah, and members of his family “were with him as he passed.”
“Senator Lieberman’s funeral will be held on Friday, March 29, 2024, at Congregation Agudath Sholom in his hometown of Stamford, CT,” the statement said. “An additional memorial service will be announced at a later date.”