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)
“Neighboring farmers and visitors at White Sulphur drove out occasionally to watch ‘those funny Scotchmen’ with amused superiority; when one member imported clubs from Scotland, they were held for three weeks by customs officials who could not believe that any game could be played with ‘such elongated blackjacks or implements of murder.’”
—For the State of West Virginia, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“We have been here over forty years, a longer period than the children of Israel wandered through the wilderness, coming to this Capitol pleading for this recognition of the principle that the Government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. Mr. Chairman, we ask that you report our resolution favorably if you can but unfavorably if you must; that you report one way or the other, so that the Senate may have the chance to consider it.”
—Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919)