Johnny Reid "John" Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator (United States Senate) from North Carolina. He was the Democratic (Democratic Party (United States)) nominee for Vice President (Vice President of the United States) in 2004 (United States presidential election, 2004), and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 (Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2004) and 2008 (Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008).

He defeated incumbent Republican (Republican Party (United States)) Lauch Faircloth in North Carolinas 1998 Senate election (United States Senate elections, 1998). Towards the end of his single six-year term, he sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2004 presidential election (United States presidential election, 2004). He eventually became the 2004 Democratic candidate for vice-president, the running mate of presidential nominee Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. In 2010, Edwards publicly revealed that he had an affair with aide Rielle Hunter and fathered a child out of wedlock while his wife was fighting metastatic breast cancer.

After Edwards and Kerry lost the election to President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, Edwards began working full-time at the One America Committee, a political action committee he established in 2001, and was appointed director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law (University of North Carolina School of Law). He was also a consultant for Fortress Investment Group LLC.