I actually defeated an incumbent Republican senator who was part of the Jesse Helm's political machine in North Carolina, the result of which is I'm now the senior senator from North Carolina instead of Jesse Helms, which is a very good thing for this country.

In the vice-presidential debate Dick Cheney told Edwards they had never met because of Edwards' frequent absences from the Senate but that was later proven to be incorrect. In August 2009 Rielle Hunter appeared before the grand jury investigating this matter. When asked about an increase in Caesarean deliveries nationwide perhaps to avoid similar medical malpractice lawsuits Edwards said "The question is would you rather have cases where that happens instead of having cases where you don't intervene and a child either becomes disabled for life or dies in utero?"
In 1993 Edwards began his own firm in Raleigh (now named Kirby & Holt) with a friend David Kirby.

Following Kerry's loss to incumbent President George W. Edwards's trial began on April 23 2012 and had he been convicted he would have faced up to 30 years in prison and a $1.