The latest in a long line of widows to seek to succeed their husbands in Congress, Minnesota Republican Jennifer Carnahan said this week she’ll run for the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s seat. But the former state party chair faces a contest, and enters with some baggage.
Hagedorn died last month at age 59 after battling kidney cancer. Carnahan, 45, said it was his “wish” that she would step in and run for the seat if he couldn’t finish the term to “keep this district in conservative hands, keep his legacy moving forward and keep all the hard work and effort and relationships he had built going strong.”
“Working side-by-side with my husband for four years, in this district, and then serving as state party chair for four-and-a-half years for the entire state of Minnesota has really taught me how to reach out to voters, how to connect with them,” she said. “The thing that I loved most about my husband and I’m hearing it from people in [the] outpouring of support is that my husband truly was never above anything. He just wanted to be and work for the people.”
