Jim Hagedorn: Minnesota GOP congressman dies of kidney cancer

Republican ran for Congress three times and lost before winning in 2018

Obit Jim Hagedorn (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Republican Rep Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota died Thursday evening after battling kidney cancer, his wife announced on Friday morning.

“Jim loved our country and loved representing the people of southern Minnesota. Every moment of every day he lived his dream by serving others. There was no stronger conservative in our state than my husband; and it showed in how he voted, led and fought for our country,” his wife Jennifer Carnahan, who is the former chairwoman of the Minnesota Republican Party, said in a Facebook post.

Mr Hagedorn, who was 59 , was first elected in 2018 when he flipped Minnesota’s 1st district from Republican to Democrat after Democrat Tim Walz vacated the seat to run for governor, as a further sign of Democrats’ eroding support in rural parts of the midwest and the country as a whole.

Mr Hagedorn’s father Tom Hagedorn was also a Minnesota congressman. Mr Hagedorn had previously run for Congress in 2010, 2014 and 2016, losing all three times. He came under heavy criticism for his Mr Conservative blog, wherein he made disparaging comments about women and Native Americans, among other groups.

While in Congress, Mr Hagedorn was ardently conservative and was one of many Republican members of Congress who voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results.

The death reduces the GOP’s minority in the House of Representatives from 212 to 211. The seat will likely remain in Republican hands.