Andrew Young

Andrew Aldridge Young (born March 23, 1966) was a key staff member in the John Edwards 2008 presidential campaign. Young came to prominence via a scandal in which he claimed paternity of Rielle Hunter's child born on February 27, 2008. John Edwards had admitted to a past affair with Hunter but denied paternity of the baby even though Edwards was in fact the father. Young has since renounced that statement, and Edwards publicly admitted paternity on January 21, 2010.

Young is the son of the late Robert T. Young (1935–2009), a Methodist minister who held positions at churches in Asheville, Boone, Statesville and Duke Chapel, all in North Carolina; his uncle is the author Perry Deane Young.

Young is a 1984 graduate of C.E. Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina, where he was a captain of the football team.

Young married Cheri Pfister Young in 1999 and they have three young children.

Young now resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Young has worked for the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. He registered as a lobbyist in 1999 and started working for John Edwards as a campaign staffer. He is a graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law, though he is not a licensed lawyer. Young is an ex-owner of Winner's Deli in Asheville, North Carolina.

Through his attorney, Pamela J. Marple, Andrew Young publicly claimed the fatherhood of Rielle Hunter's daughter Quinn in December 2007. Young later denied this, claiming Edwards was indeed the father and his original claim of paternity was part of a cover-up.

• The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down, Thomas Dunne Books, 2010