Kay Hagan, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina who served one term in the capital after defeating Elizabeth Dole, a Republican, in 2008, died on Monday at her home in Greensboro, N.C. She was 66. She died after a three-year battle with Powassan virus, a type of encephalitis, or brain inflammation, her family said in a statement. Ms. Hagan defeated Ms. Dole in the first general election for the Senate in which two women competed. When she ran for re-election in 2014, Ms. Hagan was defeated by Thom Tillis, a Republican, in what was then the most expensive Senate race in the country. Since contracting her illness in 2016, Ms. Hagan largely stayed out of the public eye.

Source: International New York Times October 28, 2019 18:08 UTC