James Lee Hagedorn ( ; August 4, 1962 – February 17, 2022) was an American politician from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, he was the

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for from 2019 until his death. The district stretches across southern Minnesota along the border with Iowa and includes

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, Austin, and

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Minnesota, and the 5th-largest outside of the Minnea ...

Early life and education

Hagedorn was born in

Blue Earth, Minnesota Blue Earth is a city in Faribault County, Minnesota, United States, at the confluence of the east and west branches of the Blue Earth River. The population was 3,174 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Faribault County. It is home to ...

, in 1962, the son of former U.S. Representative Tom Hagedorn and Kathleen Hagedorn (née Mittlestadt). He was raised on his family's farm near

Truman, Minnesota Truman is a city in Martin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,115 at the 2010 census. In 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population to be 1,053. History Truman was platted in 1899. It was named for Truman Clark, t ...

, and in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxi ...

, near Washington, D.C., while his father served in Congress from 1975 to 1983. Hagedorn graduated from Langley High School. He graduated from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and political science in 1993.

Early political career

Government career

Hagedorn served as a legislative aide to U.S. Representative Arlan Stangeland from 1984 to 1991. He then worked in the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

as director for legislative and public affairs for the Financial Management Service from 1991 to 1998 and as congressional affairs officer for the

Bureau of Engraving and Printing The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is Federal Re ...

until 2009.

''Mr. Conservative'' blog

From 2002 to 2008, Hagedorn authored a now-deleted blog, ''Mr. Conservative''. According to ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'', the blog made Native Americans a "favorite punching bag" and commented on female Supreme Court justices and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

's ancestry "in ways many voters won't appreciate". Hagedorn said the blog was intended to be humorous and satirical. Hagedorn's blogging history led the conservative newspaper the ''

Washington Examiner The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is o ...

'' to run an editorial calling him "the worst midterm candidate in America" in 2018.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2010

Hagedorn lost the Republican nomination for Minnesota's 1st congressional district in the 2010 election.

2014

Returning to Minnesota in 2013, he won the Republican nomination, but lost to Democratic incumbent

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz ( ; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician and retired educator. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019. Born in West Point, Nebraska, Wal ...

2016

Hagedorn again won the Republican nomination, and again lost to Walz in a closer race.

2018

Hagedorn received the Republican nomination, despite the National Rifle Association endorsing another candidate, state Senator Carla Nelson, who also received funds from Representatives

Elise Stefanik Elise Marie Stefanik (; born July 2, 1984) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2015. As chair of the House Republican Conference since 2021, she is the third-ranking House Republican. Stefanik's district cover ...

Richard Uihlein Richard Ellis Uihlein ( ; born 1945) and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire businesspeople, founders of Uline and conservative donors. Richard is also an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.Paul Singer. Hagedorn described himself as the most conservative candidate, who was loyal to

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

. After Hagedorn won the primary, then-head of the

National Republican Congressional Committee The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is the Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives. The NRCC was formed in 1866, when the Republican caucuses of the House and ...

, Representative

Steve Stivers Steven Ernst Stivers ( ; born March 24, 1965) is an American businessman and politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2011 until 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party, and became chair of the National Republican Congressional ...

, 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. In the general election, with Walz giving up the seat to run for

governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. ...

, Hagedorn defeated Democratic nominee Daniel Feehan, a former Department of Defense official, in a very close race.

2020

Hagedorn was reelected in 2020, narrowly defeating Feehan again.

Tenure

According to the

McCourt School of Public Policy The McCourt School of Public Policy is one of ten constituent schools of Georgetown University. The McCourt School offers master's degrees in public policy, international development policy, policy management, data science for public policy, an ...

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, Hagedorn held a Bipartisan Index Score of -0.0 in the

116th United States Congress The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019, and ended on Janu ...

for 2019, placing him 190th out of 435 members. Based on

FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', sometimes rendered as ''538'', is an American website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which takes its name from the number of electors in th ...

's congressional vote tracker at

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, Hagedorn voted with

's stated

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

positions 94.4% of the time, making him average in the 116th United States Congress according to predictive scoring (district partisanship and voting record).

Depictions of Jesus

In 2020, in response to activist

Shaun King Jeffery Shaun King (born September 17, 1979) is an American writer, civil rights activist and co-founder of Real Justice PAC. King uses social media to promote social justice causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement. King was raised ...

saying that depictions of Jesus as white should be destroyed, Hagedorn wrote that the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

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 promote

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwo ...

, 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." His comments led several corporate donors, including

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

and

UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest ...

, to ask him to return their donations.

Office funding

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 on publicly 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. Some expenses for Hagedorn's mailings went to a firm partially owned by a part-time Hagedorn staffer. Hagedorn initiated an internal review of his office's spending and reported the findings to the House Ethics Committee, which declined to pursue the matter. 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." In October 2020, ''Politico'' alleged that Hagedorn "appears to have enjoyed rent-free use of a campaign office supplied by a political donor." Hagedorn denied the report, saying his campaign had leased a post office box and not office space in the building in question.

Contesting election results

In December 2020, Hagedorn was one of 126 Republican members of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

to sign an

amicus brief An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...

in support of '' Texas v. Pennsylvania'', a lawsuit filed at the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

contesting the results of the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

, in which Joe Biden defeated

. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked

standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...

under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state. On January 7, 2021, Hagedorn objected to the certification of the

results in Congress based on false claims of voter fraud.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Agriculture ** Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture ** Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations * Committee on Small Business ** Subcommittee on Rural Development, Agriculture, Trade and Entrepreneurship ** Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce

Caucus memberships

Republican Study Committee The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana. Although the prima ...

Personal life

Hagedorn was married to Jennifer Carnahan, the former chair of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the oldest active political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Republican Party’s platform is relatively moderate. The party’s main issues are economic growth, education, healthcare, civi ...

. They lived in

Health and death

Hagedorn was diagnosed with stage 4

kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include sp ...

in 2019 and subsequently received

immunotherapy Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...

. In December 2020, he underwent surgery to remove the diseased kidney. In July 2021, Hagedorn announced that his cancer had returned. In January 2022, Hagedorn was admitted to the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, after testing positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

; he had previously been vaccinated against the disease. Hagedorn died on February 17, 2022, at the age of 59. He was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Blue Earth.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hagedorn, Jim 1962 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American politicians American male bloggers American bloggers Burials in Minnesota Candidates in the 2014 United States elections Candidates in the 2016 United States elections Deaths from kidney cancer Deaths from cancer in Minnesota George Mason University alumni People from Blue Earth, Minnesota Place of death missing Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota United States Department of the Treasury officials United States congressional aides