Jim Jeffords
United States Senator fromVermont
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Robert Stafford
Succeeded by	Bernie Sanders
Committee positions 1997–⁠2003 Chair of theSenate Environment and Public Works Committee In office June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003 Preceded by Bob Smith Succeeded by Jim Inhofe Chair of theSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee In office January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001 Preceded by Ted Kennedy Succeeded by Ted Kennedy In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2001 Preceded by Nancy Kassebaum Succeeded by Ted Kennedy
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromVermont'sat-large district
In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1989
Preceded by	Richard W. Mallary
Succeeded by	Peter Plympton Smith
20thAttorney General of Vermont
In office January 9, 1969 – January 3, 1973
Governor	Deane C. Davis
Preceded by	James L. Oakes
Succeeded by	Kimberly B. Cheney
Member of theVermont Senate fromRutland County
In office January 4, 1967 – January 8, 1969 Serving with George W. F. Cook, Andrew Orzel, Ellery Purdy
Preceded by	George W. F. Cook Ellery Purdy William Burke
Succeeded by	Andrew Orzel Ellery Purdy Sanborn Partridge Robert West
Personal details
Born	James Merrill Jeffords (1934-05-11)May 11, 1934 Rutland, Vermont, U.S.
Died	August 18, 2014(2014-08-18) (aged 80) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican (before 2001) Independent (2001–2014)
Other political affiliations	Senate Democratic Caucus (2001–2007)
Spouses	Liz Daley ​ ​ (m. 1961; div. 1978)​ ​ ​ (m. 1986; died 2007)​
Children	2
Relatives	Olin M. Jeffords (father)
Education	Yale University (BS) Harvard University (JD)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1956–1959 (active) 1959–1990 (reserve)
Rank	Captain
Unit	USSMcNair United States Navy Reserve
Battles/wars	1956 Suez Crisis 1958 Lebanon crisis
Jim Jeffords's voice Jeffords speaks ondesertification Recorded June 17, 1998

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

The son ofVermont Supreme Court Chief JusticeOlin M. Jeffords, Jeffords was born and raised inRutland. He graduated fromYale University, served for three years in theUnited States Navy, and then attendedHarvard Law School, from which he received his degree in 1962. Jeffords served in theUnited States Navy Reserve while practicing law in southern Vermont. He became a resident ofShrewsbury, 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 theCommittee on Environment and Public Works and theCommittee 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 byBernie 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 withAlzheimer's disease, and was buried in Shrewsbury.

Jeffords was born inRutland, Vermont, the son of Marion (née Hausman) andOlin Merrill Jeffords, who served as Chief Justice of theVermont Supreme Court.^[1] According to Jeffords, his mother was a relative of French architectGeorges-Eugène Haussmann.^[2] Jeffords attended the public schools of Rutland, and graduated fromRutland High School in 1952.^[3] He received a Bachelor of Science degree inindustrial administration fromYale University in 1956.^[1]

Jeffords was a member of theReserve Officers' Training Corps^[4] in college, and after graduating he received his commission in theUnited States Navy.^[5] He then received training as asurface warfare officer, followed by assignment toUSSMcNair.^[5] He served for three years, and was aboardMcNair when it became the first ship to enter theSuez Canal following the 1956Suez Crisis.^[6] He was also aboardMcNair as it took part in the U.S. response to the1958 Lebanon crisis.^[7]

After completing his active duty obligation, Jeffords served in theUnited States Navy Reserve^[8] Among Jeffords's reserve assignments was Vermont representative for the commander of the First Naval District and liaison to prospectiveUnited States Naval Academy appointees.^[9][10] His later postings included legislative liaison to the U.S. Congress.^[11] He remained in the reserve until retiring as acaptain in 1990.^[8]

After leaving active duty, Jeffords attendedHarvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1962.^[1] During 1962 and 1963 he was a law clerk forErnest W. Gibson Jr., Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Vermont.^[1] A longtime resident ofShrewsbury, Jeffords practiced law in Rutland and became active in politics and government as a member of theRepublican Party. In the 1960s, he served as Shrewsbury's Grand Juror, Town Agent and Zoning Administrator, in addition to serving as chairman of the town's Republican committee. He also served asRutland County's chairman of the Board of Property Tax Appeals.^[12]

Jeffords married Elizabeth "Liz" Daley twice, first in 1961, which ended with a June 1978 divorce. On August 26, 1986, they married again. Liz Jeffords died on the morning of April 13, 2007, after a long struggle with ovarian cancer. Jeffords and his wife had two children, Leonard and Laura, both of whom live and work in the Washington, D.C., area. After his wife's death, Jeffords resided in Washington, D.C., a move he made in order to live near his son and daughter.^[13]

Jeffords won a seat in theVermont Senate in 1966. During his 1967 to 1969 term, Jeffords served on the General and Judiciary Committees. He followed that success in 1968 with a victory in the race forAttorney General of Vermont. He was apresidential elector for Vermontin 1972, and voted for reelection of theNixon–Agnew ticket.^[14] Jeffords sought the Republican Party nomination for governorin 1972, but was defeated in the primary byLuther "Fred" Hackett.^[15]

In 1974, after winning the Republican nomination with a plurality in a three-way race, he wonVermont's sole seat in theU.S. House of Representatives, where he served for 14 years. Jeffords was a member of theAgriculture andEducation and Labor Committees, and rose through seniority to become the rankingRepublican on Education and Labor. Jeffords was the only Republican to vote against theRonald Reagan tax cuts of 1981, and was a supporter of both abortion rights and expanded protections for the rights of gays and lesbians. In addition, he was recognized as a moderate-to-liberal Republican because of his pro-environment positions and his support for theNational Endowment for the Arts.

Jeffords endorsed fellow moderate RepublicanJohn B. Anderson in his campaign for the1980 Republican Party presidential primaries.^[16]: 540

In1988, Jeffords was elected to theU.S. Senate, and was reelected in1994 and2000.^[17]

Jeffords long favored expanded access to health care, and supported the plan offered byBill Clinton in the early 1990s. In February 1998, afterDavid Satcher was confirmed by the Senate forU.S. Surgeon General,^[18] President Clinton issued a statement thanking Jeffords and several other senators "for their strong support for this extremely qualified nominee."^[19]

He was one of only five Republican senators who voted to acquit Clinton after Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House in 1999. In October 1999, Jeffords was one of four Republicans to vote in favor of theComprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The treaty was designed to ban underground nuclear testing and was the first major international security pact to be defeated in the Senate since theTreaty of Versailles.^[20][21]

Jeffords' work inCongress focused on legislation involving education, job training and individuals withdisabilities. In his later years in theSenate, his emphasis shifted somewhat, as he pushed through Congress several important pieces ofenvironmental legislations. He was, together withPaul Simon, credited by Canadian Lieutenant-GeneralRoméo Dallaire, Force Commander of theUnited Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) from 1993 to 1994, for actively lobbying the U.S. administration into mounting a humanitarian mission toRwanda during theRwandan genocide. According to Dallaire's book,Shake Hands with the Devil, he "owe(s) a great debt of gratitude" to both senators.

Jeffords was one of the founders of the Congressional Solar Coalition and the Congressional Arts Caucus. Jeffords was frequently recognized for his performance as a legislator, receivingParenting magazine's "Legislator of the Year" award in 1999, and theSierra Club's highest commendation, theJohn Muir Award in 2002.

During part of his tenure in the Senate, Jeffords sat at theCandy Desk.

On May 24, 2001, Jeffordsleft the Republican Party, with which he had always been affiliated, and became an independent. Jeffords discussed this decision: "I will make this change and will caucus with the Democrats for organizational purposes once the conference report on the tax bill is sent to the president. I gave my word to the president that I would not intercept or try to intervene in the signing of that bill." Jeffords' opposition to the policies of theGeorge W. Bush administration, including concerns over the size of theBush tax cuts, motivated his party switch.^[22] Jeffords' switch was also motivated by the refusal of Senate Republicans to fully fund theIndividuals with Disabilities Education Act,^[23] stating, "Increasingly, I find myself in disagreement with my party... I understand that many people are more conservative than I am and they form the Republican Party. Given the changing nature of the national party, it has become a struggle for our leaders to deal with me and for me to deal with them."^[24]

The2000 Senate elections had left the Senate with a 50–50 split in partisan control, forcing Democrats and Republicans to negotiate an unusual power-sharing arrangement (although Republican Vice PresidentDick Cheney couldbreak tie votes). Following the election, Democrats sought out a Republican to defect from the Republican caucus, which would give Democrats control of the chamber. Democratic whipHarry Reid courted Jeffords,Lincoln Chafee, andJohn McCain as potential party-switchers. After being promised the chairmanship of theSenate Environment and Public Works Committee to offset his loss of a committee chairmanship under Republican control, Jeffords decided to change parties, and gave up the chairmanship of theHealth, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which he had held since 1997. Jeffords's switch gave Democratscontrol of a chamber of Congress for the first time since the1994 elections, and Jeffords is the only senator in history to tip the balance of power in the Senate by switching parties.^[22] However, the effects were not long-lasting: 18 months later, after2002 midterms, the Senate switched back to a Republican majority.

Jeffords agreed to vote with the Democrats on all procedural matters except with permission of DemocraticWhip,Harry Reid.^[25] In return, Jeffords retained his seniority and received the committee seats that would have been available to him had he been a Democrat during his entire Senate tenure.^[26] He was free to vote as he pleased on policy matters, but more often than not voted with the Democrats.^[26]

Jeffords' party switch made him only the secondSenator from Vermont to caucus with the Democrats.^[27][28][29] The seat that Jeffords occupied had been held by aRepublican from 1857, whenSolomon Foot joined the new party, until Jeffords became an Independent in 2001.^[26]

Even before switching parties, Jeffords' voting record was moderate-to-liberal, which was typical of Republicans affiliated with Vermont'sAiken–Gibson wing. (The Aiken–Gibson wing of the Vermont Republican Party were those party activists and office holders identified with progressive policies. The party's conservatives comprised a pro-business wing, which was led by theProctor,Fairbanks, andSmith families. In addition to Aiken and Gibson, other members of their wing of the party in the 1950s and 1960s included Jeffords andRobert Stafford. Members of the party's conservative wing includedHarold J. Arthur,Lee E. Emerson, andWinston L. Prouty.)

By the time of his switch, no Republican Senator had a lower lifetime score from theAmerican Conservative Union. In 1981, Jeffords was the only Republican member of the House to vote against a bill reducing the toptax rate from 70 per cent to 50 per cent—a hallmark of PresidentRonald Reagan's legacy. During his time in the Senate, he voted for theBrady Bill, theFamily and Medical Leave Act of 1993, an end to theban on gays serving in the military, and against permanent normal trade relations with China and barringaffirmative action at the federal level. Jeffords was also vocal in his opposition to the nomination ofClarence Thomas to theSupreme Court of the United States by PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush. He was one of only two Republicans to vote against confirming Clarence Thomas. In 1993, he was the only prominent Republican to support President Clinton's unsuccessful attempt toestablish a national healthcare plan. Jeffords' voting record and positions on environmental issues put further distance between himself and his Republican Party colleagues.

Jeffords consistently voted against the ban onpartial-birth abortion, and also against a harsher line onCuba. In 1995, Jeffords was one of two Republican senators, the other beingBill Frist ofTennessee, to vote in favor of confirming Dr.Henry Foster asSurgeon General;^[30] the vote failed, and Foster's confirmation was ultimately denied. In 1995 he was one of only 16 senators to vote against theCommunications Decency Act. The Supreme Court later struck part of it down as unconstitutional. Jeffords advocated LGBT rights in the workplace. He sponsoredThe Employee Non Discrimination Act of 1995 (104th Congress), 1997 (105th Congress), and 1999 (106th Congress). Jeffords' non-discrimination bills did not include gender identity. He was in the minority of Republicans to oppose theFlag Desecration Amendment. On guns his record was mixed, despite voting for the Brady Bill and theFederal Assault Weapons Ban, he voted with gun control opponents against background checks at gun shows in 1999 and he voted with the majority ofCongress for theProtection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. He took a more moderate line on the death penalty.

On many economic issues Jeffords was roughly in line with the majority of the Republican Party, before and after his switch: he mostly supported free-trade agreements, voted for making enforcement ofconsumer protection laws more difficult by moving many class-action lawsuits into federal courts, tighter bankruptcy rules and abalanced budget amendment. Even after becoming an independent, he did vote with Republicans on many major pieces of legislation. For example, Jeffords did vote against the Bipartisan Patient Protection Act, a bill supported strongly by RepublicanJohn McCain and many moderate Republicans likeOlympia Snowe,Arlen Specter andMike DeWine. Two years later he voted for the prescription drug bill, derided by manyDemocrats as a give away to drug companies and opposed by many conservative Republicans who opposed further federal spending, but ultimately strongly supported by PresidentGeorge W. Bush, and the vast majority of the Republican Party.

On October 11, 2002, Jeffords was one of 23 senators to vote against authorizing theuse of military force in Iraq. Shortly after that, he was one of only nine senators to vote against the bill establishing theUnited States Department of Homeland Security. On November 11, 2003, Jeffords was one of only four senators to vote against theSyria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, a bill that received strong support from politicians from across the aisle.

In April 2005, the 70-year-old Jeffords decided not to run for re-election in 2006 citing health issues.^[31] Jeffords said his wife's cancer and his own growing health concerns caused him to decide it was time to retire.^[32] On September 27, 2006, Jeffords delivered his farewell speech on the Senate floor.^[33] Floor speeches by and in tribute to retiring senators are a Senate tradition, but only one Republican senator,Chuck Grassley ofIowa, spoke on the floor in praise of Jeffords.^[34] After his retirement, Jeffords was succeeded in the U.S. Senate byBernie Sanders.^[35]

Jeffords died of Alzheimer's disease on August 18, 2014, at Knollwood, a Washington, D.C., militaryretirement facility where he had lived for eight years.^[36] He was buried at Northam Cemetery in North Shrewsbury.^[37]

• List of American politicians who switched parties in office
• List of United States senators who switched parties
• The Singing Senators^[38]

• James M. Jeffords,My Declaration of Independence (Simon & Schuster, 2001).ISBN 0-7432-2842-1
• James M. Jeffords,An Independent Man (Simon & Schuster, 2003).ISBN 0-7432-2843-X

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