At Greensboro Funeral, Sen. Kay Hagan Remembered For Faith and Family Love

Friends and family gathered in Greensboro Sunday to say their final goodbyes to former Sen. Kay Hagan. Mourners at First Presbyterian Church included a bipartisan group of former colleagues from both Raleigh and Washington. They included Democrats Gov. Roy Cooper and Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and Republican Sen. Richard Burr from North Carolina. 

Cooper said he first met Hagan when he was the state Senate majority leader, where part of his job was to find good Democrats to run for office. 

"When Kay agreed to run for the [state] Senate, we found out pretty soon that we had struck gold," Cooper said.

Family members described her as a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. Daughter Carrie Hagan Stewart echoed the words of New York Senator Chuck Schumer in describing her mom.   

“She was an amazing force, never loud, but always strong. Effective, hard-working, dedicated, principled, and just a kind-hearted person,” she said. 

Her children praised her for being adventurous on family outings and positive in the face of adversity.

Hagan died last week of complications from a rare tick-borne virus she contracted three years ago. She was 66.

She was serving in the legislature when she announced that she would challenge incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole for the U.S. Senate in 2008. It was considered a longshot bid. Hagan wasn't well-known outside of Greensboro and Raleigh. She'd be taking on an incumbent with national name recognition, who had made a run for president and was married to the former Republican presidential nominee.

At times Hagan stared at a double-digit deficit in the polls, but the race tightened in the months before the election. Dole was dogged by criticism that during her time in Washington she rarely visited her home state.

In the waning days before Election Day, Dole made the move that defined the campaign, running an ad that questioned Hagan's Christian faith. The ad ended with a woman saying "There is no God," implying that was Hagan's belief.

In fact, Hagan was a long-time member of First Presbyterian, did mission work in places like Cuba, and taught Sunday School.

Sid Batts, Hagan's former pastor, remembered getting a frantic call from Hagan, asking him "Have you seen the ad?"

Batts said even in an age of political cynicism, the ad set a low bar and was offensive to the entire religious community.

"This is what I discovered about Kay at that time," he said. "What bothered her so was much more than being attacked personally by her opponent, it was that the deeply held faith was being smeared." 

The ad ultimately backfired. Dole was roundly criticized, even by many Republicans. Hagan went on to win the race.

She ran for re-election in 2014, facing off against another veteran of the state legislature, Thom Tillis, in one of the highest-profile, most expensive races of the year. Support for education was a key part of Hagan's campaign, and she returned to Greensboro in August of that year to criticize Tillis' record.

Republican Tillis earned a narrow victory. 

Hagan considered challenging incumbent Sen. Richard Burr in 2016 but decided against it. By that time, the political landscape had changed. Hagan won in a year when a Democrat, Barack Obama, won the state in the presidential race. In 2016, North Carolina went in another direction, with Republican Donald Trump winning the state. Voters also re-elected Burr.

Hagan had largely stayed out of public life in recent years. When she helped break ground on a new air traffic control tower at Piedmont Triad International Airport in June, many were surprised to see her looking so frail as a result of the disease she had contracted.

Her husband Chip said at the time that her condition has made it difficult for her to walk or speak, and she rarely makes public appearances as a result.