M.J. Hegar announced her Senate candidacy Tuesday in an upbeat, fast-paced video that featured her riding a motorcycle, describing the challenges she faced as a veteran and working mother, and referencing her most recent failed congressional campaign: “I didn’t get a pilot slot my first time trying, but we Texans don’t give up easily.”
Hegar, 43, who was awarded the Purple Heart after she was wounded on her third tour to Afghanistan, made waves when she ran against Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, in 2018 in a deeply conservative district and lost by 3 percentage points, in part fueled by viral videos highlighting her service that brought in waves of cash.
The Senate Republican campaign arm took a swipe at those videos, which have attracted support from stars such as Lin-Manuel Miranda and Patton Oswalt, contending in a statement that Hegar’s policies “will play better with progressive Hollywood celebrities than with mainstream Texans.”
But Democratic officials were clearly supportive, in part because those videos have proven to be fundraising magnets.
“When people tell M.J. no, she busts through the doors and fights for those left behind. Her entire adult life has been about service to her country, and she’s running for Senate to continue that sterling record of service,” Gilberto Hinojosa, the chair of the Texas Democratic Party, said in a statement.
Cornyn, 67, a former Texas attorney general who served as the No. 2 Senate Republican last Congress, has held the seat since 2002. His campaign has more than $7.5 million in cash on hand, according to recent Federal Election Commission reports, and has already dismissed Hegar as “Chuck Schumer’s hand-picked candidate,” referring to the Senate Democratic leader. Hegar’s House campaign had $37,000 on hand when it ended.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from San Antonio, also is said to be mulling a challenge against Cornyn. A Castro-Hegar primary would force the state’s rising Democratic electorate to choose between a high-profile Latino who could energize the Hispanic vote and a combat veteran who could appeal to swing voters in the Texas suburbs.
Either Democratic candidate would be an underdog against Cornyn, but either could force Republicans to spend money and effort to defend an otherwise safe seat.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.