Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, historic running mate to Al Gore in ‘00, dead at 82 after fall

Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who represented the Nutmeg State in Washington for 24 years and was the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee, has died.

He was 82.

A statement from Lieberman’s family said he passed away Wednesday in New York after suffering complications from a fall.

The former senator’s death was first reported by Punchbowl News.

“Senator Lieberman’s love of God, his family, and America endured throughout his life of service in the public interest,” the family statement read.

Lieberman, a former Connecticut state senator and attorney general, was elected to the Senate in 1988 and developed a reputation as a moderate Democrat with a prominent voice on foreign policy and a staunch supporter of Israel.

In an oddity that would repeat itself decades later, Lieberman was boosted in his first Senate election by the backing of a prominent conservative — National Review founder and Connecticut resident William F. Buckley Jr., who endorsed Lieberman in the influential magazine’s pages while dubbing his liberal Republican opponent, Lowell Weicker, “the Number One Horse’s Ass in the Senate.”

In September 1998, Lieberman became the first national Democrat to publicly criticize President Bill Clinton for his extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, calling Clinton’s behavior “not only inappropriate” but “immoral” and “harmful” in scathing remarks from the Senate floor.

The following year, Lieberman voted to acquit the 42nd president on articles of impeachment accusing Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the Lewinsky liaison.

In 2000, Lieberman made history when Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore, selected the senator as his running mate — making Lieberman the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket.

Lieberman would have been the first Jewish vice president but for Gore’s narrow Electoral College defeat, which was settled by 537 votes in Florida following a weeks-long recount battle. 

Four years later, Lieberman sought the Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out following a series of disappointing primary finishes.

Despite Lieberman’s support of gay rights, abortion rights and environmental causes, his staunch backing of the Iraq War had made him intolerable to liberal activists by 2006.

That year, Lieberman lost his Senate primary to future Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, but won re-election as a third-party candidate under the Connecticut for Lieberman banner. 

With the endorsement of prominent Republicans and conservatives — including ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), author and commentator Ann Coulter, and Buckley again — Lieberman beat Lamont in the general election by 10 percentage points.

The actual Republican nominee, former Derby Mayor Alan Schlesinger, failed to crack 10% of the vote. 

To date, Lieberman’s 2006 victory is the last time a third-party candidate won a Senate seat.

Upon his return to Washington, Lieberman described himself as an “independent Democrat” and endorsed his longtime friend Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president in 2008 — even speaking on his behalf at that year’s Republican National Convention and laying into the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.

“In the Senate, during the 3 1/2 years that Sen. Obama has been a member, he has not reached across party lines to … accomplish anything significant, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party to get something done,” Lieberman said.

“Eloquence is no substitute for a record.”

Rumors were widespread that McCain was considering tapping Lieberman to be his running mate. However, the Arizonan ultimately opted for then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the most-discussed running mate choices in recent presidential politics.

After the election, some Democrats agitated for Lieberman to be stripped of his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as payback, with then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) calling Lieberman’s attacks on Obama “beyond the pale.”

However, at the new president’s urging, Lieberman was allowed to keep his chairmanship, which he held for the rest of his tenure.

With polls showing Lieberman to be increasingly unpopular in Connecticut, he opted against seeking a fifth term and retired from the Senate in January 2013.

In his final Senate speech, delivered in December 2012, Lieberman reminded his colleagues about the necessity of “reaching across the aisle and finding partners from the opposite party.”

“That is what is desperately needed in Washington now.”

“Connecticut is shocked by Senator Lieberman’s sudden passing,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Lieberman’s successor, said in a statement. “In an era of political carbon copies, Joe Lieberman was a singularity. One of one. He fought and won for what he believed was right and for the state he adored.”

“While the senator and I had our political differences, he was a man of integrity and conviction, so our debate about the Iraq War was serious,” Lamont said in a statement. “I believe we agreed to disagree from a position of principle. When the race was over, we stayed in touch as friends in the best traditions of American democracy. He will be missed.”

After leaving public office, Lieberman joined the New York office of Kasowitz Benson Torres as senior counsel, remaining there until his death. 

“We are profoundly saddened at the passing of our firm’s senior counsel Senator Joe Lieberman,” founding and managing partner Marc E. Kasowitz said in a statement.

“We were honored when this great statesman joined our firm when he retired from the Senate over ten years ago.

“We are grateful for his many contributions to our success, and we are proud that he continued to the end to be such an important voice for America’s greatest values,” Kasowitz added.

“Joe was the wisest adviser, the most collegial colleague, and the warmest friend, and he will be greatly missed.”

A funeral service for Lieberman will be held Friday in his hometown of Stamford, with a public memorial service to be set at a later date. 

Lieberman is survived by his second wife, Hadassah, his three children, and a stepson from his wife’s previous marriage.