Former U.S. Senator Kay Hagan hospitalized | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post was created by the staff for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and N.C. Gov.-elect Roy Cooper are among those who have sent public thoughts and prayers to the family of former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, who was hospitalized Thursday with an undisclosed illness.

    A family member said doctors have ruled out a heart attack and stroke, according to the News and Record of Greensboro. She remains in intensive care, according to the latest reports from her family.

    Hagan beat Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole to win the Senate seat in 2008 but lost to Tillis six years later in one of the nation's closest Senate races.

    "Please join Susan and me in praying for @KayHagan and her family. Wishing her a speedy recovery back to good health," tweets Tillis.

    On his Facebook page, Cooper says, "Kristin and I are praying for Kay, Chip, and the entire Hagan family. She is a great friend and champion for North Carolina."

    Early this year Hagan took a job at lobbying firm Akin Gump in Washington, D.C. She spent time this past year campaigning for Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and Deborah Ross.

    After the loss to Tillis, Hagan did not seek to run for another office immediately, nor did she profess any plans to pursue a career in elected office. But, earlier this year she told Roll Call: "I've also learned from other people, you never say never."

    "Hagan's political career began when she helped her uncle, Lawton Chiles, paste bumper stickers on supporters' cars," said a story on the Wake Forest School of Law website, published a year after she took office in the Senate. Chiles, the former Florida governor, served in the U.S. Senate for 18 years.

    She earned a juris doctorate from the Wake Forest law school in 1978.

    Hagan ran Gov. Jim Hunt's gubernatorial campaign in Guilford County in 1992 and 1996 before her election to the N.C. Senate, where she served the 32nd District for 10 years. Her husband, Chip Hagan, is a lawyer in Greensboro.

    In Washington, Hagan often held a sort of open house, which she affectionately called the "Carolina Coffee." "It's a great opportunity for people in North Carolina to visit," she says in the Wake Forest story. "It's a great way to connect, and I encourage everyone to do that."

    Toward the end of the 2014 campaign, Hagan's immediate family was involved in a controversy surrounding the use of federal stimulus money by a family-run business. Ethics concerns about the matter arose in one of the statewide candidate debates.c

    Hagan's final tweet after to losing to Tillis said simply: "Serving North Carolina has been an honor, and I can't say thank you enough."