In 1996, Hagel ran for the open US Senate seat created by the retirement of Democrat J. James Exon. Hagel's opponent was Ben Nelson, then the sitting Governor of Nebraska. Although many people believed Hagel had no chance of winning, he won a "stunning upset" in the election, receiving 56% of the vote, winning virtually all demographic groups including many black precincts that had always voted Democratic in previous elections, and becoming the first Republican in twenty-four years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska.
Six years later in 2002, Hagel overwhelmingly won re-election with over 83% of the vote, the largest margin of victory in any statewide race in Nebraska history.
Since his election to the Senate in 1996, Hagel served as deputy whip for the Republican Caucus. He was chair of both the Senate Global Climate Change Observer Group and the Senate Oversight Task Force. He served as co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. He also served on the NATO Observer Group. Hagel was a member of four Senate committees: Foreign Relations; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Hagel's name was widely rumoured to be one of those considered by George W. Bush as a potential running mate in the 2000 election. In October 2002, Hagel voted in favor of authorizing the use of military force against Iraq. In August 2004, Hagel acknowledged that he was considering a presidential campaign in 2008.
Hagel appeared as himself on the HBO series
K Street in 2003, on the episode entitled "Week Four".
On immigration, Senator Hagel supports a "pathway to citizenship" and a "guest worker program" for undocumented immigrants. On May 25, 2006 he voted for S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which passed the Senate before reaching a stalemate in the House in late 2006.On June 26, 2007, Hagel joined with Senator Ted Kennedy to support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1639).
In July 2007, Hagel was one of three Republican Senators who supported the legislation proposed by Democrats to require a troop withdrawal to begin within 120 days.
"This thing is really coming undone quickly, and [Prime Minister] Maliki's government is weaker by the day. The police are corrupt, top to bottom. The oil problem is a huge problem. They still can't get anything through the parliament...no hydrocarbon law, no de-Baathification law, no provincial elections" (from Robert Novak's interview with Hagel, published in the
Washington Post: "Hagel's Stand".)
During his first campaign, Hagel indicated that, were he to be elected, he would retire in 2008 after two terms in the Senate. Nebraska State Attorney General Jon Bruning announced plans to challenge him in the primaries in 2008 if he did not retire. After considering running in the 2008 presidential election, Hagel announced in 2007 that he would retire from the Senate at the end of his present term and would not seek the presidency. He has joined the faculty of Georgetown University, where his daughter currently attends, starting in the fall of 2009, as a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance and will begin teaching in the fall of 2009.
Senator Hagel's differences with his party's platform on Iraq are reflected in a change to his voting record. As reported in :
" ... [A]ccording to Congressional Quarterly, in 2006 he voted with the President ninety-six per cent of the time... Hagel's support for Bush's policies declined...in 2007, he voted with the President just seventy-two per cent of the time."The New York Times reported on Saturday, September 8, 2007 that Hagel would retire from the Senate at the conclusion of his present term, and would not seek the Republican Party nomination for the Presidency in 2008.
Hagel had a tradition of wearing costumes to work on Halloween, usually masquerading as colleagues or other notable political figures. He has arrived at work dressed as Joe Biden, John McCain, Colin Powell, and Pat Roberts in past years.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Foreign Relations
- Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs
- Subcommittee on African Affairs
- Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs
- Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection (Ranking Member)
- Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
- Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment
- Subcommittee on Financial Institutions (Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
- Select Committee on Intelligence
- Committee on Rules and Administration
Criticism of the Bush Administration
On August 18, 2005, Hagel compared the Iraq War to Vietnam and openly mocked Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that the Iraqi insurgency was in its
"last throes".
In November 2005, Hagel made a much-publicized statement:
"To question your government is not unpatriotic ... to not question your government is unpatriotic." (This was in reference to the lack of open debate in Congress regarding the Iraq War, and in defense of his assertion that the United States should withdraw its troops.) In December 2005, in reference to Bush, the Republican Party, and the PATRIOT Act, Hagel made a much-publicized statement:
- "I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president."
In January 2006, Hagel took issue with Karl Rove over controversial statements the White House advisor made concerning the mindset of Republicans and Democrats. Hagel said,
"Well, I didn't like what Mr. Rove said, because it frames terrorism and the issue of terrorism and everything that goes with it, whether it's the renewal of the Patriot Act or the NSA wiretapping, in a political context." He also said that "dark clouds" are hanging over the Republican party, and
"If you look at the environment and the atmospherics politically in this town, read any poll. The sixth year of a governing party usually ... is not good ... the country is tired, a lot of complications in these international issues, we're at war." Hagel further criticized the Bush administration, saying,
"National security is more important than the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. And to use it to try to get someone elected will ultimately end up in defeat and disaster for that political party."In July 2006, Hagel again took issue with the Bush administration, this time on its handling of the Israel-Lebanon issue saying
"The sickening slaughter on both sides must end and it must end now. President Bush must call for an immediate cease-fire. This madness must stop." Following heavy Republican losses in the 2006 midterm election, Hagel penned an editorial in the
Washington Post highly critical of military strategies both employed and proposed for Iraq. He unequivocally declared that
"There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq," and called for a "phased troop withdrawal" ... making Hagel one of the most prominent voices in his party to do so.
According to a SurveyUSA poll, Hagel has a 10% higher approval rating among Nebraska Democrats than Republicans. OnTheIssues.org rates Hagel as a "libertarian-leaning conservative".
In January 2007, Hagel openly criticized President Bush's plan to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. He called it,
"the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out." Together with Democrats Joseph Biden and Carl Levin he proposed a non-binding resolution to the Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which rejected Bush's policy as "not in the national interest" in a 12-9 vote. However, in a Senate vote of 94-2 to revoke executive power to replace federal prosecutors without a preliminary hearing, Senator Hagel and Senator Kit Bond were the only opposition.
After an April 2007 visit to Iraq with Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Joe Sestak, Hagel expressed his belief that the occupation of Iraq should not continue indefinitely and defended Congressional actions to set a timeline for an end in occupation. In July 2007, Hagel expressed his intention to cooperate with Senate Democrats in voting for a bill that would set a timeline to get out of Iraq.
In November 2007, he rated the Bush administration "the lowest in capacity, in capability, in policy, in consensus...almost every area" of any presidency in the last forty years. He also revealed he was open to running as vice-president with the 2008 Democratic nominee.In the same month, he said,
"I have to say this is one of the most arrogant, incompetent administrations I've ever seen or ever read about."Despite his criticisms of the Bush administration, Hagel voted 78.1% of the time with the Republican party.
Decision not to seek re-election
On September 10, 2007, Hagel announced that he would be retiring from the Senate at the end of his term in 2009.The announcement ended speculation regarding a possible bid for the presidency in 2008.
On its website
The Times reported that the Senator was a possible candidate for the cabinet position of United States Secretary of Defense in the Barack Obama administration:
Obama is hoping to appoint cross-party figures to his cabinet such as Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator for Nebraska and an opponent of the Iraq war [] Senior advisers confirmed that Hagel, a highly decorated Vietnam war veteran and one of McCain’s closest friends in the Senate, was considered an ideal candidate for defense secretary.
Senator Obama was quoted in the same article, when asked about Hagel as a potential cabinet member:
"Chuck Hagel is a great friend of mine and I respect him very much." Following Hagel's retirement from the Senate, in February 2009 he accepted a position as Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
In 2010, Hagel endorsed Democratic Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak in his run for the United States Senate.
