Candidate Biography (submitted by campaign):

Born in Shelby, Kay met her husband Chip in law school at Wake Forest. After her third child was born, Kay left her banking job at NCNB, where she had worked in the estate and trust division and helped people plan for their loved ones' long term security and care, to focus on being a full-time mom. Like many mothers across North Carolina, she stayed active in the community, helping out at the Bell House and the Moses Cone Hospital, teaching Sunday school classes and leading a Girl Scout troop.

Hagan was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1998 when she defeated a Republican incumbent in a close election the political establishment believed would be won by her Republican opponent.

In Kay's ten years as a state senator, she helped create innovative tools for economic development, invested in technology and infrastructure to help develop the next century's medicine and jobs, voted to pass some of the nation's toughest predatory lending laws, and stepped up to make sure the gaps in underfunded federal homeland security and law enforcement programs were filled.

Serving as co-chair of the Budget Committee, Kay believes in keeping track of every penny spent, and she has earned a reputation as a no-nonsense legislator who knows good ideas do not come with a party label. Kay has consistently done the hard work of turning out five balanced budgets, and she has made the tough decisions to ensure that North Carolina can continue to invest in quality schools, job training, and middle class tax cuts.

Today, Washington needs a voice like hers; a voice for the right kind of change, accountability, and an unwavering commitment to keep North Carolina strong and moving forward.

There's a groundswell of optimism here in North Carolina, rooted in the fact that this is finally our chance for change. There's optimism driving the belief that as tough as things may appear, the momentum is finally on our side.

People are sick and tired of ineffective politicians who spend too much time taking care of special interests and their lobbyists instead of people like you and your family.

It's time for a new economic framework that doesn't give tax breaks to big corporations that ship jobs overseas, makes college more affordable, finally keeps our promises to veterans, and makes health care for working families and North Carolina businesses a priority once again.

We need a new energy policy that gets gas prices under control, moves us away from our dependence on foreign oil, and develops alternative energy sources that create new, good-paying jobs here at home.

Ten years ago, I was a working mom who went to Raleigh because I thought the state needed a voice like mine. I'm still that same person, but my children are grown and I'm no longer car-pooling them to soccer practice while talking to the Governor on my cell phone.

But I am still concerned that the world their children, my grandchildren, will inherit will be in worse shape than the world I inherited from my mom, Jeanette and my father, Joe.

It's NOT all doom and gloom, and our best days are NOT behind us, so long as we get started turning this around right this minute. We just need new leadership, new ideas, and a new way of doing business -- for North Carolina families, NOT the fat cats in Washington.