A former Senator from the state of Connecticut, Joe Lieberman, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in the disputed 2000 election and who almost became Republican John McCain’s running mate eight years later, has died, according to a statement issued by his family.

Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday due to complications from a fall, the statement said. He was 82. “His beloved wife, Hadassah, and members of his family were with him as he passed,” the family said. “Senator Lieberman’s love of God, his family, and America endured throughout his life of service in the public interest.”

The Democrat-turned-independent was never shy about veering from the party line. His needling of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential contest rankled many Democrats, the party he aligned with in the Senate. Yet his support for gay rights, civil rights, abortion rights and environmental causes at times won him the praise of many liberals over the years.

The Sun was among the voices suggesting that Lieberman be drafted to run as McCain’s running mate in 2008, calling him “a committed hawk in the war on Islamist terror, a patriotic American who believes in supporting freedom and human rights around the world, a free-trader, an experienced, veteran senator who can appeal to centrists and has a record of working across party lines to get legislation passed in Washington.”

More recently, Lieberman served as co-chairman of the No Labels political movement floating an alternative slate for the 2024 presidential nomination.

Lieberman came tantalizingly close to winning the vice presidency in the contentious 2000 presidential contest that was decided by a 537-vote margin victory for President George W. Bush in Florida after a drawn-out recount, legal challenges and a Supreme Court decision. He was the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket and would have been the first Jewish vice president.

He was also the first national Democrat to publicly criticize President Clinton for his extramarital affair with a White House intern.

Lieberman sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 but dropped out after a weak showing in the early primaries. Four years later, he was an independent who was nearly chosen to be McCain’s running mate.

McCain was leaning strongly toward choosing Lieberman for the ticket as the 2008 GOP convention neared, but he chose Sarah Palin at the last minute after “ferocious” blowback from conservatives over Lieberman’s liberal record, according to Steve Schmidt, who managed McCain’s campaign.

Senator Murphy, who succeeded Lieberman in the upper chamber, said, “In an era of political carbon copies, Joe Lieberman was a singularity. One of one. He fought and won for what he believed was right and for the state he adored. My thoughts are with Hadassah and the entire family.”