Iowa State Senate
Ragan is currently an assistant majority leader in the Senate. Ragan first joined the Senate when she won a special election to fill the vacancy caused by Republican Senator Merlin Bartz's resignation.
In 2005 Ragan was targeted by several groups for her opposition to a proposed amendment banning gay marriage in the state of Iowa.
Ragan was re-elected in 2006 with 15,138 votes (70%), defeating Republican opponent Kenneth D. Young.
In 2008 as chair of the Senate Human Resources Committee Ragan was a direct player in the formulation of health care legislation that would cover more Iowan children and fix health care problems in the state of Iowa.
Ragan was again re-election to the Iowa State Senate in 2010. Ragan defeated Republican candidate James Mills by a margin of 12,908 (60.4%) to 8,452 (39.4%).
Read more about this topic: Amanda Ragan
Famous quotes containing the words iowa, state and/or senate:
“When I was growing up I used to think that the best thing about coming from Des Moines was that it meant you didn’t come from anywhere else in Iowa. By Iowa standards, Des Moines is a mecca of cosmopolitanism, a dynamic hub of wealth and education, where people wear three-piece suits and dark socks, often simultaneously.”
—Bill Bryson (b. 1951)
“The State must follow, and not lead, the character and progress of the citizen.”
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“It took six weeks of debate in the Senate to get the Arms Embargo Law repealed—and we face other delays during the present session because most of the Members of the Congress are thinking in terms of next Autumn’s election. However, that is one of the prices that we who live in democracies have to pay. It is, however, worth paying, if all of us can avoid the type of government under which the unfortunate population of Germany and Russia must exist.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)