Jim Hagedorn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMinnesota's1st district | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – February 17, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Tim Walz |
| Succeeded by | Brad Finstad |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Lee Hagedorn (1962-08-04)August 4, 1962 Blue Earth, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | February 17, 2022(2022-02-17) (aged 59) Rochester, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Resting place |
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| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Tom Hagedorn (father) |
| Education | George Mason University (BA) |
James Lee Hagedorn (/ˈhæɡɛdɔːrn/HAG-e-dorn; August 4, 1962 – February 17, 2022) was an American politician who served as theU.S. representative forMinnesota's 1st congressional district from 2019 until his death in 2022. He was a member of theRepublican Party.[1] The district stretches across southern Minnesota along the border with Iowa and includesRochester,Austin, andMankato.
Hagedorn lost to futureGovernor of MinnesotaTim Walz in 2014 and 2016.
Hagedorn was born inBlue Earth, Minnesota, in 1962,[2] the son of former U.S. RepresentativeTom Hagedorn and Kathleen Hagedorn (née Mittlestadt).[3] He was raised on his family's farm nearTruman, Minnesota, and inMcLean, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., while his father served in Congress from 1975 to 1983.[4][5] Hagedorn graduated fromLangley High School.[6]
He graduated fromGeorge Mason University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and political science in 1993.[6][7]
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Hagedorn served as a legislative aide to U.S. RepresentativeArlan Stangeland from 1984 to 1991.[6] He then worked in theUnited States Department of the Treasury as director for legislative and public affairs for theFinancial Management Service from 1991 to 1998 and as congressional affairs officer for theBureau of Engraving and Printing until 2009.[6][8]
From 2002 to 2008, Hagedorn authored a now-deleted blog,Mr. Conservative. According toMother Jones, the blog made Native Americans a "favorite punching bag" and commented on female Supreme Court justices andBarack Obama's ancestry "in ways many voters won't appreciate."[9] Hagedorn said the blog was intended to be humorous and satirical.[10]
Hagedorn's blogging history led the conservative newspaper theWashington Examiner to run an editorial calling him "the worst midterm candidate in America" in 2018.[11][12]
Hagedorn lost the Republican nomination for Minnesota's 1st congressional district in the 2010 election.[6][13][14]
Returning to Minnesota in 2013, he won the Republican nomination, but lost to Democratic incumbentTim Walz.[15][6]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jim Hagedorn | 12,748 | 54.0 | |
| Republican | Aaron Miller | 10,870 | 46.0 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Tim Walz (incumbent) | 122,851 | 54.2 | |
| Republican | Jim Hagedorn | 103,536 | 45.7 | |
| Write-in | 308 | 0.1 | ||
Hagedorn again won the Republican nomination, and again lost to Walz in a closer race.[6]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jim Hagedorn | 10,851 | 76.5 | |
| Republican | Steve Williams | 3,330 | 23.5 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Tim Walz (incumbent) | 169,074 | 50.3 | |
| Republican | Jim Hagedorn | 166,526 | 49.6 | |
| Write-in | 277 | 0.1 | ||
Hagedorn received the Republican nomination, despite theNRA Political Victory Fund endorsing another candidate, state Senator Carla Nelson, who also received funds from RepresentativeElise Stefanik,Richard Uihlein andPaul Singer. Hagedorn described himself as the most conservative candidate, who was loyal toDonald Trump.[20]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jim Hagedorn | 25,418 | 60.1 | |
| Republican | Carla Nelson | 13,589 | 32.2 | |
| Republican | Steve Williams | 2,145 | 5.1 | |
| Republican | Andrew Candler | 1,106 | 2.6 | |
After Hagedorn won the primary, then-head of theNational Republican Congressional Committee, RepresentativeSteve Stivers, said of the viewpoints expressed on Hagedorn's blog, "that is news to me". The NRCC spokeswoman said the posts were inappropriate and not condoned by the group.[22]
In the general election, with Walz giving up the seat to run forgovernor of Minnesota, Hagedorn defeated Democratic nominee Daniel Feehan, a former Department of Defense official, in a very close race.[1]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jim Hagedorn | 146,199 | 50.1 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Dan Feehan | 144,884 | 49.7 | |
| Write-in | 575 | 0.2 | ||
Hagedorn was reelected in 2020, narrowly defeating Feehan again.[24]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jim Hagedorn (incumbent) | 179,234 | 48.6 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Dan Feehan | 167,890 | 45.5 | |
| Grassroots | Bill Rood | 21,448 | 5.8 | |
| Write-in | 284 | 0.1 | ||
According to theMcCourt School of Public Policy atGeorgetown University, Hagedorn held a Bipartisan Index Score of -0.0 in the116th United States Congress for 2019, placing him 190th out of 435 members.[26] Based onFiveThirtyEight's congressional vote tracker atABC News, Hagedorn voted withDonald Trump's statedpublic policy positions 94.4% of the time,[27] making him average in the 116th United States Congress according to predictive scoring (district partisanship and voting record).[28]
In 2020, in response to activistShaun King saying that depictions of Jesus as white should be destroyed, Hagedorn wrote that theDemocratic Party andBlack Lives Matter movement "are at war with our country, our beliefs and western culture." In response to critiques that the term "Western culture" has been used to promotewhite nationalism, Hagedorn said, "The notion that statues and images of Jesus Christ somehow represent white supremacy and should be destroyed is ludicrous and represent a growing intolerant movement on the left to silence any voices that do not align with their radical secular views."[29] His comments led several corporate donors, includingIntel andUnitedHealth Group, to ask him to return their donations.[30][31]
In 2020,LegiStorm released an analysis of Hagedorn's office spending, finding that the office had spent more than one fifth of its $1.4 million annual office budget onpublicly funded constituent mail. Around 40% of his office's annual budget was spent in the first quarter of 2020, surpassing any other member of Congress during the same time period.[32] Some expenses for Hagedorn's mailings went to a firm partially owned by a part-time Hagedorn staffer.[33] Hagedorn initiated an internal review of his office's spending and reported the findings to theHouse Ethics Committee, which declined to pursue the matter.[34] As a result of the internal review, Hagedorn dismissed his chief of staff and said, "I acknowledge responsibility for the oversight of my office and will continue to make any necessary management improvements."[35][33]
In October 2020,Politico alleged that Hagedorn "appears to have enjoyed rent-free use of a campaign office supplied by a political donor."[36] Hagedorn denied the report, saying his campaign had leased a post office box and not office space in the building in question.[37]
In December 2020, Hagedorn was one of 126 Republican members of theHouse of Representatives to sign anamicus brief in support ofTexas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at theUnited States Supreme Court contesting the results of the2020 presidential election, in whichJoe Biden defeated[38]Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lackedstanding underArticle III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.[39][40][41]
On January 7, 2021, Hagedorn objected to the certification of the2020 presidential election results in Congress based on false claims of voter fraud.[42]
In December 2021,Business Insider reported that Hagedorn had violated theStop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, a federal transparency and conflict-of-interest law, by failing to properly disclose a sale of stock inExact Sciences Corp. that he made in 2020.[43]
Hagedorn was married toJennifer Carnahan, who chaired theRepublican Party of Minnesota until 2021.[49] They lived inBlue Earth, Minnesota.[7]
Hagedorn was diagnosed with stage 4kidney cancer in 2019[51] and receivedimmunotherapy. In December 2020, he underwent surgery to remove the diseased kidney.[52] In July 2021, Hagedorn announced that his cancer had returned.[53]
In January 2022, Hagedorn was admitted to theMayo Clinic Hospital inRochester, Minnesota, after testing positive forCOVID-19; he had previously been vaccinated against the disease.[54][55] Hagedorn died on February 17, 2022, at the age of 59.[56] He was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Blue Earth.[57]
The Blue Earth native and sometimes resident is back to try again to become the Republican candidate to run against U.S. Congressman Tim Walz a year from now in the November 2014 election.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMinnesota's 1st congressional district 2019–2022 | Succeeded by |
