Longtime Sen. Joe Lieberman Crossed Political Lines

Joe Lieberman, a four-term senator who was elected as a Democrat, won reelection as an independent, endorsed a Republican presidential candidate, and helped found the No Labels movement, died Wednesday. His family said he died in New York City of complications after suffering a fall, per the Washington Post. He was 82. Lieberman was Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore's running mate in 2000, making him the first Jewish candidate on a major party's national ticket. The Connecticut senator launched his own unsuccessful campaign for the party's presidential nomination four years later.

On social issues including abortion access, protecting the environment, gay rights, and gun control, Lieberman largely was aligned with the Democrats, and he considered himself a centrist in that framework. On foreign policy, especially, he often broke with them. That included his support of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent war there, which critically damaged his presidential campaign and Senate reelection bid in 2006. He prevailed in the Connecticut race by running as an independent, substituting support from Republicans and independents. He later said he also was helped by GOP money steered his way by an aide to President George W. Bush, per the Post. He then worked with Democrats in the Senate.

Although he and Gore lost by one of the smallest margins in US history, Lieberman's candidacy had a historic impact, wrote the authors of Jews in American Politics, per Politico. "The net effect of the nomination has been to change the perception of what is possible for Jewish candidates for office for all time," the book says. Eight years later, Lieberman campaigned for Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee running against Barack Obama, even speaking at the GOP convention. When Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent, Lieberman offered his support. "We're in a time when the two major parties have not played the role that they are intended to play, which is to help the country solve some of our problems," he told the Times. (More obituary stories.)