Cate Edwards | |
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 Edwards in 2007 | |
| Born | Catharine Elizabeth Edwards March 4, 1982 Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (AB) Harvard University (JD) |
| Occupation(s) | Attorney, author |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Spouse | Trevor Upham (m. 2011) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | John Edwards Elizabeth Anania |
Catharine Elizabeth Edwards (born March 4, 1982) is an American attorney. Edwards is the daughter of former United States Senator John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards.
Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, where her parents were practicing attorneys, Edwards was educated in the Wake County Public School System. She attended Aldert Root Elementary School, Daniels Middle School, and Needham B. Broughton High School, where she graduated at the top of her class. [1] In high school, she played soccer, basketball, and softball, and was named All-Conference and Most Valuable Player her senior year. Her siblings are: Wade (1979–1996), Emma Claire (born 1998), Jack (born 2000).
Edwards attended Princeton University, majoring in political economics, and graduating with honors. She is a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, and was an intern for the Council on Foreign Relations.
In 2004, Edwards accompanied her father on the campaign trail and campaigned on his behalf while he pursued the Democratic presidential nomination, a venture that ultimately proved to be unsuccessful. [2] [3] [4]
After the presidential election, she lived in New York City and worked as an editorial assistant for Vanity Fair . While in New York, she and co-worker Jessica Flint founded an online Rolodex called UrbanistaOnline to help young newcomers settle into New York. In 2004, she also became a member of the board of directors of the youth voter initiative Generation Engage. She was an active campaigner during her father's 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. In the fall of 2012, she returned to the college campus of Winthrop University, where she spoke to students about the importance of voting and the necessity of refusing to be a bystander in our democracy. [5]
Edwards entered Harvard Law School in the fall 2006. In the summer after her first year in law school, she worked as intern to Nina Totenberg at NPR. In fall 2007, she became a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. Edwards graduated from Harvard Law in 2009. She then moved to Washington, D.C., and served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia before joining a civil rights law firm in Washington, D.C. She temporarily left the practice of law in May 2011, after the death of her mother, Elizabeth, to start a foundation in her mother's honor. [6] She returned to the practice of law in mid-2012 and is now a partner at Edwards Kirby, the law firm of her father and attorneys David Kirby and William Bystrynski. [7]
In 2021, she founded her own law firm called Edwards Beightol with fellow litigator Kristen Beightol. [8] [9]
Early in the 2004 presidential campaign, Edwards became the first family member of the Democratic candidates to state that she was in favor of legalizing gay marriage. On September 30, 2007, during a campaign stop with actor James Denton, she was quoted by CNN as saying: "I'm on my mom's side with this, not my dad's. It's the word 'marriage' that he is hung up on". The news organization then went on to state in its report that John Edwards "does not support gay marriage, but his wife, Elizabeth, does". [10] (John Edwards supported civil unions, while Elizabeth Edwards had stated that she supported gay marriage.) She also declared her support for Trevor Thomas, an openly gay candidate for U.S. Congress in Michigan. [11] As part of her former law practice at Edwards and Eubanks, she represented clients faced with discrimination based on their sexual orientation.
Edwards married her longtime boyfriend, cardiothoracic surgeon Trevor Upham, in October 2011. [12] They have three children.
Cate Edwards stood by her father, John Edwards, as he faced felony charges of conspiracy, false statements, and campaign law violations for the cover-up of $925,000 in illicit campaign contributions. [13] John Edwards was acquitted on one federal count on May 31, 2012, while a jury deadlocked on five other counts. Edwards was not retried on any of the outstanding charges and resumed his law practice.
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama The Last Picture Show (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. She also had roles as Kelly in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Betsy in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), and Nancy in Woody Allen's Alice (1990).
Johnny Reid Edwards is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. He also was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.
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The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGBTQ individuals, including advocating for same-sex marriage, anti-discrimination and hate crimes legislation, and HIV/AIDS advocacy. The organization has a number of legislative initiatives as well as supporting resources for LGBTQ individuals.
Mary Elizabeth Anania Edwards was an American attorney, author, and health care activist. She was married to John Edwards, the former U.S. Senator from North Carolina who was the 2004 United States Democratic vice-presidential nominee.
The 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry, the longtime U.S. senator from Massachusetts, began when he formed an exploratory committee on December 1, 2002. On September 2, 2003, he formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. After beating John Edwards, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, and other candidates in the primaries, he became the Democratic nominee, challenging Republican incumbent George W. Bush in the general election. Kerry selected Edwards as his running mate.
Stephanie Marie Herseth Sandlin is an American attorney, university administrator, and politician from the Democratic Party. She represented South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2004 until 2011. Sandlin was first elected to Congress in a special election on July 12, 2004, and was reelected three times before losing to Republican Kristi Noem in 2010. She was the youngest female member of the House, and the first woman elected to the House from South Dakota. Before her 2007 marriage to Max Sandlin, she was known as Stephanie Herseth. She is a Democrat and a member of the Herseth family of South Dakota.
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Mary Claire Cheney is the younger of the two daughters of Dick Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States and 17th United States secretary of defense, and Lynne Cheney. She is involved with a number of political action committees. She married her wife, Heather Poe, in 2012, and was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case in 2013.
Elizabeth Millen Birch is an American attorney and former corporate executive who chaired the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 1992 to 1994. She served as the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT organization, from January 1995 until January 2004.
Victoria Anne Kennedy is an American diplomat, attorney, and activist who has served as the United States Ambassador to Austria since 2022. She is the widow and the second wife of longtime U.S. senator Ted Kennedy.
Marie P. St. Fleur is a Haitian American politician and lawyer. former Massachusetts State Representative who represented the Fifth Suffolk district from 1999-2011. Her district consisted of parts of the Boston neighborhoods Dorchester and Roxbury. She is the first Haitian-American to hold public office in Massachusetts. Representative St. Fleur was one of the most active supporters of John Kerry's presidential bid, often traveling to Florida to do outreach on his behalf. Representative St. Fleur was appointed Vice-Chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee by House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, a leadership position that has tremendous influence in the budget process. On January 30, 2006 Thomas F. Reilly, candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, selected St. Fleur as his running mate. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately through the primary, then are joined as a single ticket for the election. The following day she withdrew after The Boston Globe reported that she was delinquent in tax debts and owed over $40,000 in student loans.
The Visible Vote ’08: A Presidential Forum aired live on August 9, 2007 on the TV channel Logo. It was the first-ever live televised forum with U.S. Presidential candidates discussing solely LGBT-related issues. Logo co-sponsored the event, the first live one in its history, with the Human Rights Campaign.
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Katie Biber is a well known American lawyer who served as the general counsel for the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign.
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