About Kay

Making A Difference

Kay Hagan knows that you do not make a difference standing on the sideline. When she first ran for the State Senate almost ten years ago, she was a businesswoman and mother who believed that Raleigh needed a voice like hers.

During her five terms in the North Carolina Senate, she has proven to be an effective leader who is not afraid to do the hard work to bridge partisan divides and always put people before politics. Named one of North Carolina’s “Ten Most Effective Senators,” Governor Mike Easley calls Kay “one of the smartest, hardest working, most effective Senators we have in Raleigh.”

Kay goes to work every day focused solely on what is best for North Carolina – building on what works, eliminating what doesn’t. She has earned a reputation as a no-nonsense legislator who knows good ideas do not come with a party label.

Serving as Co-Chair of the Budget Committee during her last three terms, Kay believes in keeping track of every penny spent. She puts a premium on accountability and has no tolerance for wasteful spending. Kay has consistently done the hard work of turning out balanced budgets, and she has made the tough decisions to ensure that North Carolina can continue to invest in quality schools, job training, and middle class tax cuts.

After nine years in Raleigh, Kay is all too familiar with the ways Washington has repeatedly come up short for North Carolina. Today, Washington needs a voice like hers; a voice for the right kind of change, accountability, and an unwavering commitment to keep North Carolina strong and moving forward.

Stepping Up

When Washington came up short on health care for North Carolina’s children, Kay led the effort to bridge the gap by increasing coverage through Health Choice for Children.

When Washington failed to provide North Carolina’s National Guard with the equipment they needed to stay safe in Iraq and around the world, Kay supported North Carolina’s efforts to pay for handheld radios and military vehicle body armor to keep our Guardsmen safe.

After the devastating hurricanes and subsequent floods that caused extensive damage to western North Carolina in 2004, Washington failed to provide sufficient disaster assistance, so Kay supported state legislation to help the communities hurt by the disaster.

As Washington runs up the national debt, North Carolina produces balanced budgets. When Washington was largely ignoring the rising cost of sending a child to college, North Carolina invested in new pathways to higher education for thousands of students and their families.

The list goes on and on, but Kay sums it up best: “If we’re going to see real results for North Carolina, we need change in Washington.”

Governor Easley touts Kay as North Carolina’s best hope for making Washington help everyday families back home: “She’s been a strong partner in the work we’ve done here in North Carolina to pick up the slack when Washington’s come up short. I know firsthand that North Carolina needs someone like Kay fighting for us in Washington,” said Gov. Easley.

“No one works harder than Kay to find common sense solutions to the issues North Carolina families talk about around their kitchen table,” said Senate President Pro-Tem Marc Basnight.

State Senate

In Kay’s nine years as a state senator, the legislature has created innovative tools for economic development, invested in technology and infrastructure to help develop the next century’s medicine and jobs, passed some of the nation’s toughest predatory lending laws, and stepped up to fill the gap in underfunded federal homeland security and law enforcement programs.

In education, Hagan has provided the leadership to increase teacher pay and reduce class sizes. Kay believes that the public universities in North Carolina are a crown jewel and an example for the whole country. She has supported increased investment in the state university system to keep pace with increasing demand for the educated workforce that our knowledge-based economy demands.

Before the current housing crisis, Kay passed legislation mandating that the State Board of Education teach “Personal Financial Literacy” to North Carolina’s high school students. “You have to understand debt and money issues in order to get by in the world today,” Hagan said at the time.

Kay recognized that greater financial literacy means expanded access to the everyday opportunities that define the American Dream: paying for college, owning a home, and saving for retirement. It is that kind of common sense forward-thinking that Kay takes to work with her every day.

The wife of a Vietnam veteran, Hagan’s service in Raleigh has been marked by a deep commitment to keeping North Carolina the most military-friendly state in the country. Kay has close family in the active military serving overseas as a fighter pilot in the Air Force and as a Navy SEAL. She has a personal connection to making sure Washington prepares for the return of this most recent generation of veterans.

Family

Born in Shelby, Kay met her husband Chip in law school at Wake Forest. After her third child was born, Kay left her job at a large bank to focus on being a full-time mom. Like many mothers across North Carolina, she stayed active in the community.

Kay and Chip raised their three kids in Greensboro and watched as their bipartisanship was put to the test with a son at Duke and a daughter at UNC – Chapel Hill (their oldest daughter went to college in California).

Kay’s commitment to public service started at an early age, putting bumper stickers on cars for her uncle. That uncle, Lawton Chiles, went on to become Governor of Florida, after having served 18 years in the U.S. Senate.

Here in North Carolina, she was the Guilford County manager for Governor Hunt’s 1992 and 1996 gubernatorial campaigns.

Building on her civic service and grassroots involvement in politics, Hagan was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1998 when she defeated a Republican incumbent in a close election the political establishment believed would be won by her Republican opponent.