Kay Hagan

Janet Kay Ruthven Hagan (born May 26, 1953) is the junior United States Senator from North Carolina, in office since January 2009. Previously she served in the North Carolina Senate from 1999 to 2009. She is a member of the Democratic Party and is viewed as a politically moderate Democrat representing a predominantly Republican state.

When Hagan defeated Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole in the 2008 United States Senate election, she became the first woman to defeat a female incumbent in a Senate election.

Early life and education
Hagan was born Janet Kay Ruthven in Shelby, North Carolina, the daughter of Jeanette (née Chiles), a homemaker, and Josie Perry "Joe" Ruthven, a tire salesman. Both her father and her older brother served in the U.S. Navy. She spent most of her childhood in Lakeland, Florida. Leaving the tire business, her father branched out into real estate development, primarily focused on industrial warehouses and warehouse-centered business parks in the Lakeland and Polk County, Florida area. With business success came political engagement, in this case with the Democratic Party, with her father later becoming mayor of Lakeland. To this day, the multigenerational Ruthven family remains one of the wealthiest and most politically influential families in Lakeland and Southwest Central Florida.

Hagan also spent summers on her grandparents' farm in Chesterfield, South Carolina, where she helped string tobacco and harvest watermelons. As a child, Hagan engaged in her earliest political activity: placing bumper stickers on cars for her uncle, Lakeland native and U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles (D-FL), who later became Florida Governor following his service in the U.S. Senate. In the 1970s, she was an intern at the Capitol, operating an elevator that carried senators, including her uncle, to and from the Chamber.

She later earned a B.A. degree from Florida State University in 1975 and a J.D. degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1978, later pursuing a career as both an attorney and banker.

North Carolina legislature
Hagan was first elected to the North Carolina General Assembly as state senator for the 32nd district in 1998 (due to redistricting, her constituency later became the 27th district). During the 1998 campaign, her uncle Lawton Chiles walked the district with her. She represented most of central Guilford County, including most of Greensboro.

2008 election
After Hagan first decided not to run against Elizabeth Dole, the Swing State Project announced on October 26, 2007, that two independent sources had reported that Hagan would, in fact, run. Hagan made her candidacy official on October 30, 2007. She defeated investment banker Jim Neal of Chapel Hill, podiatrist Howard Staley of Chatham County, Lexington truck driver Duskin Lassiter, and Lumberton attorney Marcus Williams in the May 2008 Democratic primary.

Hagan was initially given little chance against Dole, and she was recruited to the race only after more prominent North Carolina Democrats such as Governor Mike Easley, former Governor Jim Hunt and Congressman Brad Miller all declined to compete against Dole. However, most polling from September onward showed Hagan slightly ahead of Dole, although Hagan had previously fallen behind by as many as 17 points at one point. Hagan was helped by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's aggressive push for North Carolina's 15 electoral votes and by 527 groups lobbying on her behalf. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee expended more money in North Carolina than in any other state during the 2008 election season.

In the November election, Hagan won by an unexpectedly wide margin, winning 53 percent of the vote to Dole's 44 percent—the largest margin of victory for a Senate race in North Carolina in 30 years, and the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent Senator in the 2008 cycle. It has been speculated that the wider-than-expected margin was partly due to anger over negative campaign ads by the Dole campaign in the latter stages of the race (see "Godless" ad below). Hagan trounced Dole in the state's five largest counties—Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth and Cumberland. She also did very well in the eastern part of the state, actually outperforming Obama in that region.

Husband


In October 2008, The Politico reported that Hagan's husband Chip Hagan III, a former Democratic county leader, had been a member of 1,000-member Greensboro Country Club for years, despite the club's de facto segregation and refusal to admit black members. Hagan herself was not a member of the club. Greensboro Country Club admitted its first black member in 1995. Over the summer, Chip Hagan had also been criticized by Republicans for part ownership of domestic oil wells as gasoline prices increased for consumers.

"Godless" ad
In late October, the Dole campaign released a television ad that stated that the leader of the Godless Americans PAC had held "a secret fundraiser in Kay Hagan's honor." The ad showed sound bites of group members espousing their views, then stated that Kay Hagan "hid from cameras, took Godless money... what did Hagan promise in return?" It ended with a photo of Hagan and a female voice saying, "There is no God." The ad aired across North Carolina. Hagan's campaign says the ad sought to put inflammatory words in their candidate's mouth. The Dole campaign says the ad correctly shows whom Hagan will associate with in order to raise campaign funds. On November 1, Bob Dole also defended it, asserting that "it never questions her faith," and that "the issue is why she was there. There's no question about her faith. I think it's [the ad's] fair game."

Hagan, a member of First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro and a former Sunday school teacher, condemned the ad as "fabricated and pathetic." Hagan also filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court accusing Dole of defamation and libel. Following Hagan's victory, the lawsuit was dropped.

The ad met exceptionally strong criticism from the public as well as many local and several national media outlets. CNN's Campbell Brown said about the ad: "[A]mid all the attack ads on the airwaves competing to out-ugly one another, we think we've found a winner." The ad was described as "ridiculously outrageous," "indecent," a "gross misrepresentation," "worse than dishonest" and "beyond the bounds of acceptable political disagreement," among other harsh criticism. The media reported that within 48 hours of the first ad Hagan received over 3,600 contributions, including major donors as well as individual support from a range of atheists, agnostics and other religious beliefs who felt they were being attacked by Dole. Another ad issued by the Dole campaign in mid-October 2008 was described by The Fayetteville Observer as "[setting] the low mark in negative political campaigning."

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Airland
 * Subcommittee on Personnel
 * Subcommittee on SeaPower
 * Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities (Chairwoman)
 * Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
 * Subcommittee on Children and Families
 * Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
 * Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
 * Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

Abortion
Planned Parenthood quotes Hagan as saying "I am a strong supporter of a woman's right to choose... I would like to see abortions be safe, legal, and rare. These decisions are best made privately by a woman in consultation with her doctor." Hagan was endorsed by EMILY's List, an organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office.

Health care
In December 2009, Hagan voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and she later voted for Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Immigration
On December 18, 2010, Hagan was one of only five Democrats to vote against the Dream Act.

LGBT issues
On December 18, 2010, Hagan voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.

Hagan opposes North Carolina's Amendment 1, a measure that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman in North Carolina's Constitution.

Overtime pay
Hagan is the lead sponsor of the "Computer Professionals Update Act", introduced in October 2011. The bill would expand the definition of "computer professionals" relating to the overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Tobacco
Hagan differs from the Democratic Party on the issue of FDA regulation of the tobacco industry. Hagan opposed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was cosponsored in the 110th Congress by Barack Obama. Lorillard Tobacco Company is based in her hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. Hagan was the only Democratic senator to oppose the bill when it came to a vote in the Senate. The bill passed with 79 votes in favor to 17 in opposition, including Hagan.

Wall Street
Hagan at first refused to take a position on the Wall Street bailout bill, but said she opposed it after the Senate passed the bill.

Hagan voted against a resolution to establish a national consumer credit usury rate.

PROTECT IP Act
Hagan was a co-sponsor on the PROTECT IP Act bill introduced in the Senate.

Personal life
Hagan's husband, a transaction lawyer, has a net worth between $10.7 million and $40 million. The Hagans have three children: Jeanette, Tilden, and Carrie.

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