US Coast Guard Academy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Joe Lieberman ’64 LAW ’67, a Senator who served Connecticut for 24 years, died on Wednesday, March 27. He was 82 years old. 

Lieberman, a practicing Orthodox Jew, was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, selected to be former Vice President Al Gore’s running mate. He was the first Jewish American to run for the position on a major party ticket. He passed away after complications from a fall in his home in Riverdale, New York, according to a family statement.

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Lieberman attended Yale College and Yale Law School. During his college years, he served as chairman — now editor in chief and president — on the Yale Daily News Managing Board of 1964.

Neither of the senator’s parents had a college education, according to filmmaker Jonathan Gruber, who said his biographical documentary about Lieberman will be released in May. Gruber, who filmed part of the documentary on Yale’s campus with Lieberman this past summer, said that Lieberman considered his Yale education to be a “leg up.”

Paul Steiger ’64, a childhood friend of the senator, fondly remembered his experiences working on the News’ Managing Board with Lieberman.

“I first knew him in seventh grade,” Steiger said, “and then we were on the YDN together. We called it ‘Chairman’ those days, but he was our editor in chief and I was on his staff.”

After graduating from law school, Lieberman was elected to the Connecticut State Senate in 1970, where he represented New Haven for ten years, including six as Democratic Majority Leader. After losing a race for Connecticut’s 3rd Congressional District in 1980, he served as Connecticut Attorney General from 1983 to 1989.

Lieberman was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1988, where he represented Connecticut for more than two decades. In 1994, he won reelection by the largest-ever margin in a Connecticut Senate race, winning with 67 percent of the vote. 

Gore, who served as vice president under President Bill Clinton LAW ’73, selected Lieberman to be his running mate in August 2000, while Lieberman was campaigning for reelection to his senate seat. The Gore-Lieberman ticket, which won the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, lost the general election to Republican President George W. Bush ’68 and Vice President Dick Cheney after a recount and Supreme Court challenge in the crucial swing state of Florida.

Lieberman briefly ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2004 presidential election but suspended his campaign in early February. 

In the Senate, Lieberman staunchly supported the Iraq War, over which he was criticized by his more liberal Democratic peers. 

In 2006, Lieberman lost the primary for the Democratic nomination to now-Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, who clashed with the Senator over his stance on the Iraq War. Despite this loss, Lieberman ran as a third-party candidate and won the seat with over 100,000 votes more than Lamont.

“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 wrote on X on Wednesday. “When the race was over, we stayed in touch as friends in the best traditions of American democracy. He will be missed.”

After his reelection as an independent, Lieberman still caucused with Democrats while at the same time shifting away from the party. In the 2008 presidential election, he endorsed Republican nominee John McCain. Lieberman even contemplated running on the Republican vice presidential ticket but was not picked by McCain. 

In his final term, Lieberman became the decisive 60th vote needed to break the filibuster on the Affordable Care Act. At the same time, he blocked the passage of a public insurance option, which then-President Barack Obama — and most Democrats — supported. 

When asked about Lieberman’s legacy, Gruber described Lieberman as a “man of courage” who took his moral cues from his faith. 

“He was a person who, as he said, was stubbornly, at least in the political world, bipartisan,” Gruber said. “I think where it comes from is his being an Orthodox Jew, and how much his religion and his faith guided him in terms of how he dealt with people on an everyday basis.”

In 2012, Lieberman retired from Congress. In recent years, he challenged the Democratic party line and worked as a co-chair of the political group No Labels, which sought to find an independent presidential candidate for the 2024 race. 

Lieberman is survived by his wife Hadassah, four children and 13 grandchildren.

Anika Arora Seth contributed reporting.

A full obituary will appear soon.