Minnesota Rep. Jim Hagedorn announces he has cancer
A Minnesota congressman announced Wednesday that he has been receiving treatment for cancer for the past year and intends to run for reelection in 2020.
Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer in February 2019, he said in a press release.
“Today, one year later, I am happy to say I feel great and continue to perform my job in Congress unimpeded. I have not missed even a single vote due to illness,” he said in a statement, adding that “I will keep fighting cancer and fighting for America and the people of southern Minnesota.”
Hagedorn, who was elected in 2018, noted that the cancer was discovered by chance and that he received the shocking diagnosis “exactly two months after marrying my wife, Jennifer, and just six weeks into my job as the First District’s Congressman.”
Hagedorn thanked his wife as well as the staff at the Mayo Clinic, where he said he is being treated, and emphasized that battling cancer has not deterred his commitment to his job.
“I’ve been able to do my job, make hundreds of stops across the First District, hold 18 town hall meetings, and make 39 round trips to and from Washington, D.C. to perform my legislative duties,” he said. “I am a candidate for re-election in 2020.”
House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney praised Hagedorn as “a proven fighter and a strong representative for the people of Southern Minnesota.”
“It is totally in keeping with Jim’s character and track record that he has been working so effectively while battling cancer at the same time,” Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said in a statement. “House Republicans are united in our full support for him and his family.”
Hagedorn is not the only member of Congress to announce cancer treatment — and a commitment to continue working — of late. In December, Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a civil rights icon, announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and vowed to continue his work.
