Jack of Harts

Jim Hagedorn is another person you probably haven’t heard much about. He was born in a small town named Blue Earth in Southern Minnesota like his father before him. His father was a veteran of the Navy who owned a farm not far from Blue Earth. So Jim Hagedorn grew up harvesting grain and raising hogs. Working the fields. Repairing fences. The standard things farm boys do on family farms.

Then his father won election to Represent Minnesota’s 2nd House District to the Federal House of Representatives and Jim Hagedorn started spending his school years in Virginia. There he played tennis, practiced debate, started writing political letters-to-the editors, and meeting National political figures. There’s even a picture of an older teenage version of him meeting the President of the United States if you look for it.

He went to college and then jumped into politics full time. He became a legislative assistant for a Minnesota Congressman, and later worked in the US Treasury Department. And in the last few years he’s been trying to win elections to Represent what is now Minnesota’s 1st House District to the Federal House of Representatives. Gotta love redistricting.

So what makes him interesting right now? In an election year dominated by Democrats winning Republican House seats and taking over the House of Representatives, Jim Hagedorn is one of the very few Republicans who won a seat held by the Democrats. I think there are exactly two of them right now based on what I’ve read.

So a boy who grew up on a family farm raising hogs is the elected Representative for Minnesota’s 1st House District. Yes. I know. Not as clean an occupation as raising hogs, but sometimes even politicians have a history of doing good, clean, honest work.

This is the story of America. It doesn’t matter if you were born to a farmer in Southern Minnesota or to some rich family in Pennsylvania. You can work hard, educate yourself, and end up going all the way to the capital of the United States of America.

This is America. The land of opportunity. This is what we celebrate.