MJ Hegar jumps in to face John Cornyn in Texas Senate battle
WASHINGTON—MJ Hegar, the Texan combat veteran who ran a surprisingly strong challenge in a Republican-held House seat during the 2018 midterms, is running for Senate in the hopes of taking on Republican Sen. John Cornyn.
Hegar announced her bid in an online video, a familiar medium for the Democrat. Last cycle, her introductory video detailing her service and challenge to Defense Department restrictions on women in combat went viral and helped her raise more than $5 million over the cycle.
The new spot recounts her last campaign and the strong challenge former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke ran against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. And Hegar spends the final minute of the video laying into Cornyn as a lackey to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"Weakness, partisanship, gridlock. Those are not Texas values, John. But maybe you've been in Washington so long that you've forgotten that," Hegar says.
Hegar's candidacy gives Democrats a candidate with a strong ability to fundraise and someone with experience on challenging political terrain. While Hegar lost her congressional bid last cycle, she came within about 3 points of GOP Rep. John Carter, who hadn't previously faced a competitive election since he entered the House in 2002.
President Trump won the district by 13 points in 2016.
But Cornyn is a strong fundraiser himself, with more than $7 million in the bank. He has a deep network of experienced operatives looking to keep him in office. And Republicans are already making it clear they're looking to dust off the same playbook they used against O'Rourke in 2018, framing Hegar as a Washington-backed candidate who is too progressive for the red state.
“New York liberal Chuck Schumer found his chosen candidate in MJ Hegar. Hollywood Hegar’s support for late-term abortion and government-run health care will play better with progressive Hollywood celebrities than with mainstream Texans," National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Jesse Hunt said of Hegar in a statement.
Hegar so far is the top Democrat in the race, but allies of Rep. Joaquín Castro are encouraging him to run and he has not yet ruled out a bid.