Jim Jeffords

James Merrill "Jim" Jeffords (May 11, 1934 – August 18, 2014) was an American lawyer and politician from Vermont who served as a member of the Vermont Senate from 1967 to 1969, Attorney General of Vermont from 1969 to 1973, and later served in both chambers of the United States Congress as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1989 and as a member of the United States Senate from 1989 to 2007. He was a member of the Republican Party until 2001, when he left the party to become an independent politician and began caucusing with the Democratic Party.

The son of Olin M. Jeffords, who served as Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, Jim Jeffords was born in Rutland, Vermont. He graduated from Yale University, served for three years in the United States Navy, and then attended Harvard Law School, from which he received his degree in 1962. Jeffords practiced law in southern Vermont and became a resident of Shrewsbury, where he was active in local politics and government as a Republican, including serving as chairman of the town's Republican committee. He served one term in the Vermont Senate (1967–1969), and two as Attorney General of Vermont (1969–1973). He lost the 1972 Republican primary for Governor of Vermont, but won the election for Vermont's lone seat in the United States House of Representatives in 1974. He served in the House from 1975 to 1989; in 1988 he was the successful Republican nominee for the United States Senate seat held by the retiring Robert Stafford.

Jeffords served in the Senate from 1989 until 2007, winning reelection in 1994 and 2000. In 2001, he left the Republican Party to become an independent, and began to caucus with the Senate's Democrats. His switch changed control of the Senate from Republican to Democratic, the first time a switch had ever changed party control. During his Senate career, Jeffords served as chairman of the United States Committee on Environment and Public Works and the United States Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Jeffords did not run for reelection in 2006 and retired at the end of his term. He was succeeded by Bernie Sanders. Jeffords retired to Shrewsbury in 2007. After the death of his wife, he moved to the Washington, D.C. area to live closer to his children. He died in 2014 from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease, and was buried in Shrewsbury.