Jim Jeffords

James Merrill Jeffords (May 11, 1934 – August 18, 2014) was an American lawyer and politician from Vermont. Originally a Republican, he served as a member of the Vermont Senate from 1967 to 1969 and Vermont Attorney General 1969 to 1973. He lost the 1972 Republican primary for governor of Vermont, but in 1974 he won Vermont's at-large seat in the United States House of Representatives. He served in the US House from 1975 to 1989, and in 1988 won election to the United States Senate. In 2001, Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent and began caucusing with the senate's Democrats. Jeffords served in the Senate from 1989 until 2007.

The son of Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Olin M. Jeffords, Jeffords was born and raised in Rutland. 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 served in the United States Navy Reserve while practicing law in southern Vermont. He 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. His election to a Vermont Senate seat in 1966 set him on the path to a political career, and he won the state attorney general's post in 1968. After two terms, Jeffords was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in the 1974 Republican primary. His election to Vermont's US House seat in 1974 marked the start of a long career in Congress; he served in the House for 14 years, and in the US Senate for 18.

After winning reelection in 1994 and 2000, in 2001 Jeffords 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 of the Senate. During his Senate career, Jeffords served as chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Committee on 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.