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‘A fixture in NC politics’: Lawmakers reflect on life of late Sen. Kay Hagan

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – Lawmakers in North Carolina have been mourning the loss of former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan this week.

“She was a dear friend, a colleague here for 6 years, a fixture in North Carolina politics,” Rep. David Price (D-NC-4) said Tuesday.

Hagan died at the age of 66 on Monday after a prolonged illness.

“It was shocking. Even though she had been very ill, it was shocking,” Price added.

Another North Carolina Congressman, G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-1,) had just seen Hagan at a fundraiser for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in Durham on Sunday.

“I am sure Kay was very happy to be in a political environment as her last evening on this earth,” Butterfield said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden joined Butterfield in sharing his condolences with the Hagan family along with many others.

Current Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (NC) who defeated Hagan in the 2014 Senate race released this statement Monday:

“We join all North Carolinians in remembering her dedicated and distinguished record of public service to our state and nation.”

A glimpse of bipartisanship that Hagan would have been proud of.

“We talk about bipartisanship in this body, but she practiced it every day,” Butterfield said.

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