US

Joe Lieberman, former US senator and vice-presidential nominee, dies at 82

Connecticut senator ran on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in 2000 but later became an independent

Former US senator Joe Lieberman has died. Photograph: Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times

Sam Levin in Los Angeles
Thu Mar 28 2024 - 06:45

The former US senator Joe Lieberman, who ran as the Democratic nominee for vice-president in the 2000 election and became the first Jewish candidate on a major-party ticket for the White House, alongside presidential candidate Al Gore, has died at the age of 82.

Mr Lieberman died in New York due to complications from a fall, according to a statement from his family. He was a Connecticut senator for four terms.

Mr Lieberman took one of the most controversial arcs in recent US political history. Though he had the status of a breakthrough candidate for America’s Jewish community as Gore’s running mate, his support for president George W Bush’s Iraq War heralded a rightward journey that saw him anger many Democrats.

Mr Lieberman sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 but his support for the war in Iraq doomed his candidacy with voters, amid increasing anger at the invasion and its bloody aftermath. It also meant Mr Lieberman was rejected by Connecticut’s Democrats when he ran for a fourth Senate term there in 2006.

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However, in what he said was a vindication of his positions, he kept his Senate seat by running as an independent candidate, with substantial support from Republican and independent voters.

By 2008, Mr Lieberman was a high-profile supporter of Republican senator John McCain in his bid to defeat Democrat Barack Obama’s quest to become America’s first Black president.

Mr Lieberman therefore managed to both impress and offend people across party lines. He expressed strong support for gay rights, civil rights, abortion rights and environmental causes that often won him praise of many Democrats, and he frequently fit mould of a northeast liberal. He played a key role in legislation that established the US Department of Homeland Security.

He was also the first national Democrat to publicly criticise President Bill Clinton for his extramarital affair with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He scolded Mr Clinton for “disgraceful behaviour”, earning the ire of his party – though his position has become much more standard in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

As he sought a political home outside Democratic politics, Mr Lieberman’s close friend in the Senate John McCain was leaning strongly toward choosing him as vice-president for the 2008 Republican ticket, but Mr Lieberman’s history of liberal policies were seen as too unpopular for Mr McCain to pull off such a move with his conservative base. He plumped for Sarah Palin instead.

In announcing his retirement from the Senate in 2013, Mr Lieberman acknowledged that he did “not always fit comfortably into conventional political boxes” and felt his first responsibility was to serve his constituents, state and country, not his political party.

Harry Reid, who served as Senate Democratic leader, once said that while he did not always agree with the independent-minded Mr Lieberman, he respected him. “Regardless of our differences, I have never doubted Joe Lieberman’s principles or his patriotism,” Reid said. “And I respect his independent streak, as it stems from strong convictions.”

After leaving the Senate, Mr Lieberman joined a New York law firm and took up company boards – as is common for retiring senators. But his public positions continued to be a mishmash of liberal and rightwing views.

He endorsed Donald Trump’s controversial decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and was a public supporter of Mr Trump’s rightwing education secretary Betsy DeVos – a hated figure for many liberals. But at the same time, he endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 in their runs for the White House.

Mr Gore published a tribute praising Lieberman as a “truly gifted leader, whose affable personality and strong will made him a force to be reckoned with”, recounting his former running mate’s support of the 1960s civil rights movement.

Mr Obama wrote that he and Mr Lieberman “didn’t always see eye-to-eye”, but commended the former senator for supporting the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and the passage of the Affordable Care Act: “In both cases the politics were difficult, but he stuck to his principles because he knew it was the right thing to do.”

Mr Lieberman continued to push his message of compromise with his 2021 book The Centrist Solution, comparing far-right extremists to progressive leftists in a Guardian interview at the time, saying: “The divisive forces in both of our two major parties have moved further away from the centre. But I believe those more extreme segments of both parties are in the minority in both parties.”

He also said he was optimistic that “more mainstream, centrist elements” in the Republican Party would take over again. – Guardian

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