John Edwards graduated from North Carolina State University in 1974, and then earned a law degree in 1977 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1998, Edwards ran for Senate and won, defeating an incumbent senator. He ran for president in 2004, and became the Democratic nominee for vice president that same year. He is currently the Director of the Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. John and his wife, Elizabeth, have had four children.