Kay Hagan

• Born: May 26, 1953
• Birthplace: Shelby, NC
• Died: October 28, 2019
• Place of death: Greensboro, NC

US Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina gained national attention during the 2008 campaign season for being the object of blunt personal attacks from the campaign of Republican Party incumbent Senator Elizabeth Dole. The ensuing controversy delivered nationwide support for the North Carolina native, and secured a significant victory over the incumbent. Hagan, a former state senator, was considered a pro-business Democrat during her tenure in the US Senate, which ended in 2015.

Early Life & Education

Kay Hagan was born Kay Ruthven on May 26, 1953, in Shelby, North Carolina. Her father, Joe, worked as a tire salesman and her mother Jeanette Chiles, was a homemaker. Joe Ruthven soon moved his family to Lakeland, Florida, where he was elected mayor. Hagan's uncle was Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr., who served for eighteen years as a US Senator and seven years as governor of Florida.

Hagan attended Florida State University, graduating in 1975. In 1978, she earned a JD (law degree) from Wake Forest University. After moving to North Carolina, Hagan began her career in law, working as an attorney for the North Carolina National Bank (NCNB). She would become vice president of the bank, which would become Bank of America. She left her position at the bank following the birth of her first child.

Political Career

Hagan got her start in politics by working as a local manager for Democratic candidate Jim Hunt's gubernatorial campaign, which was successful. Hagan also worked for Hunt's successful reelection bid in 1996.

In 1998, Hagan ran for seat as a state senator in the North Carolina General Assembly, with the notoriety of her uncle, Governor Lawton Chiles, helping her successful campaign. She would go on to serve in the state legislative body for five terms. As a state senator representing the Democratic Party, Hagan made a name for herself for her work in education. She was named by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy as one of the states "Ten Most Effective Senators" three times. Hagan served as co-chairman of the states' Budget Committee.

In late October of 2007, Hagan announced that she would run for a seat in the US Senate. She won the May 2008 Democratic primary, defeating four party colleagues. Hagan faced Republican Party incumbent Elizabeth Dole. Initially, many political analysts believed that Dole would win reelection to her senate seat with relative ease.

Hagan's campaign benefited on two fronts. The Democratic Party was determined to win North Carolina in the presidential election, and was also targeting specific Senate seats, North Carolina being one of them. Both the Democratic Party and the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spent heavily in the state, with supporters spending considerable time traversing the state at campaign appearances.

The second, unanticipated benefit, occurred in late October, as the campaign season was reaching its final weeks. Polls began to indicate distaste among voters for Dole's use of character attacks against Hagan. Dole's campaign ran a controversial television advertisement sponsored by a political action committee (PAC) known as Godless Americans. The advertisement implied that Hagan, a practicing Presbyterian, was in fact an atheist. Hagan's supporters were quick to note her work in the church, particularly her experience as a Sunday school teacher. In fact, Hagan filed a defamation lawsuit again Dole as a result of the accusation made in the television ad. The Dole campaign perhaps did not predict such a visceral reaction to the PAC's ad, which resulted in financial donations to Hagan from organizations and individuals nationwide.

In the general election, Hagan defeated Dole by 9 percent of the total vote. Her margin of victory was far greater than most political analysts had initially predicted. In fact, Dole's margin of defeat was the largest suffered by an incumbent North Carolina senator in thirty years.

Hagan began serving in the US Senate beginning in January of 2009. She took a pro-choice stance on abortion, and believed that laws regarding marriage should be determined by state governments. One of her stated goals was to increase teacher's salaries.

Hagan ran for reelection in 2014, and faced North Carolina state Speaker of the House Thom Tillis as her Republican opponent. Overall spending in the race was among the most expensive in Senate history up to that point, exceeding $100 million. In the end Hagan lost by a narrow 1.7 percent margin. Her term in the Senate ended in early 2015.

Hagan and her husband, attorney Chip Hagan, had three children together: Tilden, Jeanette and Carrie. After her time in office Hagan became known for contracting the tick-borne Powassan virus, which causes dangerous brain inflammation known as encephalitis. Her infection drew extra attention as scientists noted the tick population was increasing rapidly, creating an increasing public health challenge. Hagan and her family eventually stated they believed she received the tick bite in November 2016, though it took months for her to receive a proper diagnosis due to the rarity of the virus. She had to use a wheelchair as a result of the disease and had limited ability to speak. Hagan died of complications from the encephalitis on October 18, 2019, at the age of sixty-six.

Bibliography

Cole, Devan, and Manu Raju. "Former North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan Dead at 66." CNN, 28 Oct. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/politics/kay-hagan-dead-north-carolina-senator/index.html. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.

"Hagan, Kay." History, Art & Archives, United States House of Representatives, history.house.gov/People/Detail/15594. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.

"Kay Hagan." Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Kay‗Hagan. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.

Seelye, Katharine Q. "Kay Hagan, Former North Carolina Senator, Dies at 66." The New York Times, 28 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/politics/kay-hagan-dead.html. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.