Democrats and Republicans eye First District seat following Hagedorn's death

After the announcement of First District Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s death last week, those close to him mourned while politicos in and around the district scrambled to figure out what would come next for the district during this election year.

Hagedorn announced in July 2021 that his kidney cancer had returned, and in January of this year he checked into the Mayo Clinic after testing positive for COVID-19.

He was first elected to lead Minnesota’s First Congressional District in 2018, a year which was a difficult political time for Republicans. He took over the First District after it had been held by Tim Walz, who left the seat to become governor. Hagedorn defeated the Democratic candidate by just 1,315 votes in 2018, and won again by a larger margin of votes in 2020.

During his time in the House, Hagedorn served on the House Subcommittees on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture; on Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research; on Underserved, Agricultural and Rural Business Development; on Contracting and Infrastructure and on Oversight, Investigations and Regulations. He was also facing an ethics investigation over allegations of using taxpayer-funded mailers for campaign purposes and renting office space for free or far below market rent from a political donor in Mankato.

Read more: https://www.minnpost.com/greater-minnesota/2022/02/democrats-and-republicans-eye-first-district-seat-following-hagedorns-death/