Joe Lieberman first Jewish VP candidate is dead

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Former Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman has died, his family announced in a statement Wednesday. He was 82.

Lieberman died Wednesday afternoon in New York with his wife Hadassah and loved ones at his side after he suffered complications from a fall, his family said in the statement.

Lieberman was the Democratic vice presidential nominee who ran with former Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election. The pair were defeated by former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

In a statement Wednesday, Bush said that he was “saddened” by the loss of Lieberman, referring to him as “one of the most decent people I met during my time in Washington.”

“As Laura and I pray for Hadassah and the Lieberman family, we also pray that Joe’s example of decency guides our Nation’s leaders now and into the future,” Bush said.

In his later years, Lieberman served as co-chairman of No Labels and was heading up the committee to vet its potential unity ticket candidates. A hefty share of the group’s leadership and key staff had left over the last year. Lieberman was effectively the group’s top spokesperson through its effort this last year to field a third-party ticket.

In a statement, No Labels, which encourages cooperation across the aisle, referred to Lieberman as the “moral center” of its movement and called his death “a profound loss for all of us.”

And Republicans praised Lieberman on Wednesday. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on X commended Lieberman’s commitment to working with “anyone regardless of political stripe.”

nternational leaders have also weighed in, with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling Lieberman, who was Jewish, "an exemplary public servant, an American patriot and a matchless champion of the Jewish people and the Jewish state."

The Republican Jewish Coalition's national chairman, former Sen. Norm Coleman, called him "a true mensch and a great American."