Ed Flanagan (politician)

Edward S. Flanagan (born December 18, 1950), commonly known as Ed Flanagan, is an American politician from Vermont. He served as Vermont State Auditor from 1993 to 2001 and as a State Senator from 2005 to 2011.

Flanagan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in history/political science in 1973, and earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1976. Beginning in 1977, Flanagan served in the Carter Administration as a policy analyst under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph Califano, before returning to the private practice of law in Vermont.

Flanagan served as Vermont's State Auditor from 1993 through 2001, becoming the first openly gay, statewide-elected official in the United States. Flanagan was the Democratic nominee in the U.S. Senate contest in 2000, becoming the first openly gay individual to be nominated by a major party as a candidate for the United States Senate. In that election, Flanagan was defeated by incumbent U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords. His U.S. Senate campaign, like many of his campaigns before and since, won the backing of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

In 2002, Flanagan made a bid for the Democratic nomination for State Treasurer but was defeated by Senator Jeb Spaulding, who went on to win the office.

In 2004, Flanagan returned to public life and was elected to the Vermont State Senate, representing the Chittenden senate district. He is a resident of Burlington, Vermont. He was re-elected in 2006 and 2008 but did not seek re-election in 2010, instead mounting an unsuccessful bid for State Auditor. His Senate term ended in January 2011.

In November 2005, he was seriously injured in a car accident during a period of particularly bad weather. Having spent six months in hospital, he returned to the statehouse in early May 2006 and expressed his desire to get back to work. On December 4, 2006 Flanagan had a second car accident when his car went off the road as he was turning onto I-89 in South Burlington, Vermont.