MJ Hegar makes second run on bigger stage

MJ Hegar is standing two stair steps above a couple dozen supporters squeezed into a home in North Austin.

This is familiar territory for Hegar, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate who spoke at the January meet-and-greet roughly 5 miles from the home where she grew up and close to the Cedar Park elementary school where she would meet her future husband.

"I really think that it takes someone who was raised in Texas, who understands Texans," Hegar, who now lives in Round Rock, told the room of supporters.

Hegar has made a name for herself in Texas politics, first in a bid for a U.S. House district north of Austin two years ago. Her "Doors" campaign video, which showed her path from military hero to congressional candidate, garnered more than 3 million views on YouTube and attracted support from the likes of Natalie Portman.

Hegar outraised U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, and lost by just 2.9 percentage points -- by far the closest race Carter has seen in nine elections. The campaign catapulted her to a statewide candidacy.

She could be called the frontrunner among a dozen candidates -- she's the top fundraiser and topped the last poll on the race, even if she registered just 11% support.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn likely awaits the winner; he faces four lightly-funded rivals in the GOP primary.

Several attendees at the North Austin event wore T-shirts with "Veterans for MJ" written in big, bold letters. At least five others were from the same grassroots group aiming to elect Hegar, a former Air Force combat search and rescue medevac pilot.

Hegar, who served three tours in Afghanistan and earned a Purple Heart, sees her military experience as evidence that she can flip Cornyn's seat from red to blue.

And her supporters say they see it, too.

Matthew Price, an Army veteran who wore the veterans shirt to the January event, supported Hegar in her last campaign.

Price, 47, is volunteering for the Senate campaign and said it's Hegar's military service that can harness a new kind of Democratic voter.

"When you tell her story, it resonates with people regardless of political party," Price said. "I would block walk and there were times that I would get people who would be dead set against any Democrat up and down the ballot, but when they hear about MJ they would want to support her."

Conservative upbringing

Growing up, Hegar watched her mother face domestic abuse at home -- an experience she says directed the rest of her life.

"I do feel like I have set out a path of my life to never again be too small or too weak to protect the people I love," Hegar told the American-Statesman. "Becoming a combat pilot and rescuing people off the battle field, and now, I feel like I'm doing the same thing. The reasons I put the uniform on are the same reasons I'm running for office."

Hegar's military career came to a halt during her third deployment to Afghanistan when she was shot down by the Taliban during a rescue mission. She served in the Air Force as an aircraft maintenance officer from 1999 to 2004 and from 2004 to 2011 she served in the Air National Guard.

Hegar later became a plaintiff in an ACLU lawsuit challenging the military's policy that excluded women from many combat positions. The ban was rescinded in 2013.

Hegar wasn't raised as a Democrat, and she voted in the 2016 Republican primary -- a protest vote against Donald Trump, she said. Her opponents, however, have used that history to criticize her purity as a Democrat.

But Hegar sees her upbringing in a conservative part of Texas as another way her story can energize a new kind of voter.

"I grew up in a place that didn't have any Democrats, or if there were Democrats they weren't talking about it," Hegar said. "I would argue that growing up in a Republican area actually makes me a lot more of a viable candidate than someone who is going to demonize and alienate someone who used to be a Republican or used to vote Republican."

Hegar doesn't support a buyback proposal for assault-style rifles, which former presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke proposed after the El Paso shooting. But she does support universal background checks.

She has proposed a Medicare buy-in for all who want it. She's pro-abortion rights and supports taking more action on climate change.

After working as a program manager at Seton Healthcare Family in Austin, and later, as a consultant at Dell Technologies, she published her memoir "Shoot Like a Girl" in 2017.

Hegar also is a motivational speaker for the Lavin Agency.

'Issues first'

Elizabeth Bray, a founding member of the progressive Austin Women Invest to Elect and a friend of Hegar's, called her one of the more "moderate" candidates in the Democratic field. The organization is backing Hegar for Senate.

"I think she really was putting issues first rather than party platforms and that stuck out to people," she said, adding that in 2018, she was "floored" to see signs for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Hegar in the same yard.

Hegar has barely broken from the pack, however, despite raising $1.2 million in the final three months of 2019 -- $800,000 more than the next highest fundraiser, state Sen. Royce West of Dallas.

In December, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the fundraising arm of Senate Democrats, endorsed Hegar. The group has endorsed candidates in other states, including Iowa, North Carolina and Colorado, where grassroots organizers criticized the group's decision to endorse in primaries.

Earlier this month, Hegar received more national support from the political action committee VoteVets, in the form of a $3.3 million TV ad buy, including a 30-second spot that highlights how Hegar has "taken on the toughest fights."

Despite her seemingly natural fit for politics, Hegar said she never planned to run for office until shortly before her congressional bid in 2018.

After losing to Carter, Hegar was among the first Democrats to announce a Senate bid.

"If the end game was about getting a brass name plate and a comfy chair in D.C. then, yeah, I would have run for that seat again," she said of Carter's House district. "But I did not feel like that's where the fire was."

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