Janet Kay Hagan[1] (née Ruthven; May 26, 1953 – October 28, 2019) was an American lawyer, banking executive, and politician who served as a United States Senator from North Carolina from 2009 to 2015.

She ran for reelection in 2014 but lost to Republican Thom Tillis, Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, in a close race.

[7][8][failed verification] Hagan also spent summers on her grandparents' farm in Chesterfield, South Carolina, where she helped string tobacco and harvest watermelons.

[2] In the 1970s, she was an intern at the Capitol, operating an elevator that carried senators, including her uncle Lawton, to and from the Chamber.

While a student at Florida State, Hagan became a member of the Chi Omega sorority, though she later resigned her membership.

[14][15] 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.

[18] Hagan was helped by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's aggressive push for North Carolina's 15 electoral votes[19][20] and by 527 groups lobbying on her behalf.

[17] The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee expended more money in North Carolina than in any other state during the 2008 election season.

[17] In late October, the Dole campaign released a television ad that stated the leader of the Godless Americans PAC had held "a secret fundraiser in Kay Hagan's honor."

[21] Hagan, a member of First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro and a former Sunday school teacher,[22] condemned the ad as "fabricated and pathetic,"[23] and filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court accusing Dole of defamation and libel.

[31][32] The Fiscal Times reported that Hagan benefitted from a presidential election, with its higher voter turnout, in 2008 and that without one in 2014 the race appeared to be a toss-up.

[33] Hagan declined to attend ceremonies for President Barack Obama's January 2014 visit to North Carolina, deciding instead to remain in Washington for Senate votes.

Pundits questioned whether Hagan was attempting to distance herself from the President, whose popularity in North Carolina had waned significantly after he won narrowly the state in his 2008 presidential bid.

[34] Hagan had been the target of numerous negative ads paid for by Americans for Prosperity, which had spent over $7 million on the race by the end of March 2014.

[40] Hagan faced Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis and Libertarian Sean Haugh in the general election on Tuesday, November 4.

[71][72] On September 27, 2013, Hagan voted to restore funding for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as part of an amendment to legislation funding government operations for 45 days, and which also omitted House-passed language prioritizing debt payments if Congress fails to increase the nation's borrowing limits.

[73][74][75] The Washington Post's Dana Milbank argued at the time that Hagan was destabilizing her own Senate political career due to her difficulty communicating the reasons for her support of Obamacare to her own constituents.

[80] Hagan co-sponsored PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to the sale of infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S.

In the wake of online protests, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tabled the bill in January 2012.

[69] Hagan was endorsed by EMILY's List, an organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office.

[100] Among those in attendance at Hagan's funeral were former Democratic Senate colleagues Claire McCaskill, Amy Klobuchar, Mary Landrieu, and Blanche Lincoln, fellow North Carolina Senator and Republican Richard Burr, and incumbent North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.