Joe Lieberman, who served as a centrist U.S. senator from Connecticut and was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, has died at age 82.
The four-term senator died Wednesday due to complications from a fall, his family said in a statement.
“His beloved wife, Hadassah, and members of his family were with him as he passed,” the statement said. “Senator Lieberman’s love of God, his family, and America endured throughout his life of service in the public interest.”
In the Senate, he served as a Democrat from 1989 to 2006, when he became an independent. He retired from the Senate in 2013.
A political shapeshifter, Lieberman was known for switching his party affiliation. In the Senate, he served as a Democrat from 1989 to 2006, when he became an independent. He retired from the Senate in 2013.
In the 2000 presidential race, Lieberman served as Al Gore’s running mate when the two bested George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the popular vote but, nonetheless, lost in the Electoral College after the Supreme Court’s landmark Bush v. Gore decision. Lieberman remains the only Jewish candidate to appear on a major party’s presidential ticket in U.S. history.
More recently, Lieberman co-founded the controversial centrist political organization No Labels, which reportedly is considering a “unity party” ticket, including a Democrat and a Republican, to run in this year’s presidential race. As recently as last week, Lieberman said that No Labels was meant to “speak for the middle,” but the group has had trouble finding candidates.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.