Emmett Hanger  Emmett Wilson Hanger Jr. (born August 2, 1948, in Staunton, Virginia) is an American politician of the Republican Party. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1983 to 1991, when he was unseated by Creigh Deeds. Since 1996 he has been a member of the Senate of Virginia, representing the 24th district. This district, located in the central Shenandoah Valley and nearby sections of the Blue Ridge Mountains, includes the independent cities of Staunton, and Waynesboro, as well as Augusta County, Greene County, Madison County, and parts of Rockingham County and Culpeper County. Hanger was a former National Guard Commander and served as a Captain in the United States Army. Hanger served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1983 to 1992. Hanger was already elected to the State Senate for the first time in 1996. In the Senate, he is a member of the following committees: Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources; Finance; Local Government; and Rehabilitation and Social Services. In 2018, Hanger was rated the 10th most productive state legislator in the United States by FiscalNote, a data analytics firm based out of Washington, DC. FiscalNote's methodology is based on the quantity of bills sponsored, how far each sponsored bills progresses through the legislative process, and how substantive the bill is. Emmett Hanger is known for his open support of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, which he pursued for multiple budget cycles. Due to his open support of Medicaid expansion, many organizations have taken it upon themselves to oppose Emmett Hanger. In October 2013, the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) group began, according to Hanger, “an attempt to intimidate me” in the AFP group's campaign to oppose "Obamacare" in the state of Virginia. In 2015, Emmett Hanger was challenged for the Republican nomination by Dan Moxley, former Augusta County GOP chairman and Republican activist, and Marshall Pattie, former Augusta County Democratic Committee chairman and Augusta County Board of Supervisors member from Augusta County's North River District. In 2018, Hanger succeeded in pushing through the Medicaid expansion as part of the 2018 budget cycle with the support of a bipartisan coalition in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate. Along with governor Ralph Northam, Hanger received the "Hero in Health Care Extraordinaire" award from the Virginia Health Care Foundation. Hanger also advocates for mental health, and has called for improving treatment resources in state mental health facilities.