EMILY's List Announces Endorsement of Kay Hagan for North Carolina Senate

Washington, D.C. - EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest political action committee and financial resource for women running for elective office, today announced its endorsement of North Carolina state Senator Kay Hagan in her candidacy for United States Senate.

“Kay Hagan personifies the strength, experience and tenacity needed to change Washington and to bring North Carolina’s priorities back from those of President Bush,” said Ellen R. Malcolm, president of EMILY’s List. “A no-nonsense legislator and accomplished businesswoman, Kay has proven herself as someone who delivers and has worked across party lines in the state Senate to enact critical legislation for North Carolinians. EMILY’s List and its members are proud to support Kay Hagan in her efforts to bring a fresh and effective North Carolina voice to the U.S. Senate.”

Kay Hagan has served nine years in the North Carolina state Senate. In that time, she became the co-chair of the Budget Committee, delivering balanced budgets and tax cuts to the middle class along with landmark transparency. Hagan successfully fought to make teacher pay more competitive, reducing the average class size of third-graders and increasing standards and accountability. She worked to overcome Washington’s failures by encouraging increased coverage of North Carolina’s children through the state’s health care plan. She also worked to ensure that 2,000 untested rape kits sitting on the shelves in North Carolina police departments received appropriate funds in order to be tested for DNA samples, ultimately allowing law enforcement agencies to identify rapists months, sometimes years after the rape.

These efforts and more earned her the acclaim of Governor Mike Easley, who called her “one of the smartest, hardest working, most effective senators we have in Raleigh.” Likewise, Hagan was named one of North Carolina’s “Ten Most Effective Senators.”

“Washington is broken, plain and simple," said Hagan. “As the next senator from North Carolina, I will continue my work as an advocate and effective, experienced voice of integrity for North Carolinians. I am proud to have the support of the thousands of EMILY’s List members in North Carolina and around the country, and thank them for their support in what will be a spirited and exciting challenge.”

With more than 100,000 members across the country, EMILY's List is the largest political action committee in the nation. Since its founding in 1985, EMILY's List has raised over $240 million to elect 69 pro-choice Democratic women to the U.S. House, 13 to the U.S. Senate, and eight governors. Over the course of 23 years, EMILY's List has helped elect hundreds of pro-choice Democratic women to federal office, state legislatures, state constitutional offices, and other key local offices.