Edwards graduated from Patrick Henry High School in 1962, where he was president of the Student Government Association, a state champion pole vaulter, and voted by his classmates as "most likely to succeed."

in history from Princeton University in 1966 after completing a senior thesis titled "The Making of the Marshall Plan.

He served as vice-chairman of the University Judiciary Committee and as assistant to Professor Antonin Scalia, later justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Edwards served in the United States Marine Corps from 1971 to 1973 as a Judge Advocate General, attaining the rank of captain.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Edwards United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.

The Roanoke Times & World News reported that he had one of the "perhaps most successful tenures of any federal prosecutor in recent years."

His office also received recognition from the Department of Justice for increasing by several times the collection of monies owed the federal government.

In November 1995, Edwards unseated a Republican incumbent to win a seat in the Senate of Virginia, representing the 21st District.