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EDWARDS, John, a Senator from North Carolina; born in Seneca, South Carolina on June 10, 1953; attended public schools in Robbins, North Carolina; B.A. North Carolina State University 1974; J.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 1977; textile mill worker; attorney and partner with Edwards & Kirby, Raleigh, N.C.; elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1998 and served from January 3, 1999, to January 3, 2005; was not a candidate for reelection to the Senate, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004; was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President on the Democratic ticket with John F. Kerry in 2004.

During President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial in the Senate, Edwards was responsible for the deposition of witnesses Monica Lewinsky and fellow Democrat Vernon Jordan.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Edwards was reported to be on Democratic nominee Al Gore's vice presidential nominee "short list" (along with John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, Gore's eventual pick). In November 2000, People magazine named Edwards as its choice for the "sexiest politician alive."

Edwards served on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. Senate Committee on Judiciary.

During his Senate term Edwards co-sponsored 203 bills. He co-sponsored Lieberman's S.J.RES.46, the Iraq War Resolution, and also later voted for it in the full Senate to authorize the use of military force against Iraq. Edwards also supported and voted for the Patriot Act. Among other positions, Edwards generally supported abortion rights, affirmative action, and the death penalty. Among his first sponsored bills was the Fragile X Research Breakthrough Act of 1999. He was also the first person to introduce comprehensive anti-spyware legislation with the Spyware Control and Privacy Protection Act. He also advocated rolling back the Bush administration's tax cuts and ending mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent offenders

Edwards was born on June 10, 1953 to Wallace R. Edwards and Kathryn Juanita Wade in Seneca, South Carolina. The family moved several times during Edwards' childhood, eventually settling in Robbins, North Carolina, where his father worked in a textile mill and his mother was a postal employee. Edwards was the first person in his family to attend college. He first attended Clemson University and later transferred to North Carolina State University. Edwards graduated with a bachelor's degree in textile technology in 1974 from North Carolina State University, and later earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, both with honors.

While at UNC, he met fellow law student Elizabeth Anania. They married in 1977 and have four children. Their first two, Wade and Cate, were born soon after John and Elizabeth's marriage. In 1996, their 16-year-old son, Wade, was killed in a car accident. Following Wade's death, Edwards and his wife chose to have children again: Emma Claire, born 1998, and Jack, born in 2000. The Edwards family now live on a secluded 102 acre estate in rural/suburban Orange County, in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill metro area, in North Carolina.

On November 3, 2004, the day Kerry and Edwards conceded defeat in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was treated via chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and has continued to remain an activist for women, cancer patients, the Democratic Party, and her husband's One America Committee.