Jeffords Has Died

Former Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT) has died at 80, the Burlington Free Press reports.

“Jeffords was regarded as a maverick in Washington even before he split from the Republican Party in 2001, decried the party’s rightward shift and criticized what he saw President George W. Bush’s political intransigence on a number of issues… Jeffords’ decision to become an independent in 2001 rocked the nation by giving control of the Senate to the Democrats, costing his Republican colleagues their committee chairmanships.”