Bob Hagan to challenge Rulli for Ohio Senate seat

Bob Hagan

 A veteran Valley politician plans to run again for an Ohio Senate seat he last held sixteen years ago.

Robert F. Hagan tells 21 News he’ll be at the Mahoning County Board of Elections Monday morning to take out petitions to run for the 33^rd State Senate District.

The 72-year-old Democrat would be vying for the spot now held by Republican Michael Rulli, who tells 21 News he intends to see re-election.

Describing himself as a former state legislator for 28 years and 50 years as a locomotive engineer with strong union ties, Hagan Tweeted:  “I am going to run for re-election to the state senate and ask the republicans why they are attacking our democracy.”

Hagan was a State Representative from 1986 to 1997 and again from 2006 until 2014.

In between those terms, he served as 33^rd District State Senator, where he was an Assistant Senate Minority Whip.

The Ursuline High School graduate and former locomotive engineer was a member of the Ohio Board of Education from 2014 to 2015 when he resigned to become the Director of Political and Legislative Affairs for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

Hagan is married to 58^th District State Representative Michelle Lepore Hagan.