Sen. James Jeffords announced Thursday his decision to leave the Republican Party and become an independent, a move that will give Democrats control of the Senate for the first time since 1994. "In ...

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Former Vermont U.S. Sen. James Jeffords, who in 2001 tipped control of the Senate when he quit the Republican Party to become an independent, died Monday. He was 80. Jeffords died in ...

Why we chose him: This quiet Republican Senator jumped ship from the GOP this week to become an independent, causing perhaps the most significant mid-term shakeup in the history of Capitol Hill. Jim ...

The obituaries for former Vermont Sen. James Jeffords, who died earlier this week, uniformly began by referencing his decision in 2001 to bolt the Republican Party, thus shifting the Senate majority ...

WASHINGTON -- As expected, Senator Jim Jeffords announced this morning he is leaving the Republican party and will align himself with the Senate's Democratic caucus. The move, which Jeffords delayed ...

The defection of Jim Jeffords may be remembered as one of the most successful covert operations in American political history, with Democratic leader Tom Daschle as the mastermind and Jeffords as the ...

BURLINGTON, Vt. — James Merrill Jeffords, who was a Republican congressman and senator before breaking with his party in 2001, has died. He was 80. Jeffords, the last Republican to hold federal office ...

Jim Jeffords never was one to vote the Republican Party line. But the idea he might bolt the GOP entirely was never given much thought until after his decisive Senate vote last month against President ...

W A S H I N G T O N, May 23 -- Keeping Capitol Hill in suspense for yet another day, Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont now will not reveal whether he is leaving the GOP — and throwing control of the ...

W A S H I N G T O N, May 24 -- Democrats will regain control of the Senate following Vermont Sen. James Jeffords' decision to abandon the Republican Party and become an independent. Ending days of ...

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Former Vermont U.S. Sen. James Jeffords, who in 2001 tipped control of the Senate when he quit the Republican Party to become an independent, died Monday. He was 80. Jeffords died in ...

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Sen. Jim Jeffords (search), an independent who triggered one of the most dramatic upheavals in U.S. Senate history when he quit the GOP (search) four years ago, announced Wednesday ...