Air Force veteran and failed Texas congressional candidate MJ Hegar announced Tuesday she is officially launching a bid to unseat Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn and obtain the U.S. Senate seat.
“Unseating an entrenched incumbent senator is going to be tough, but I’ve faced worse odds in my life,” Hegar tweeted. “Saddle up, Texas. I’m in.”
Hegar, a Democrat, kicked off her campaign with a nearly four-minute advertisement where she detailed her unsuccessful run for Texas’s 31st Congressional District and choice to try again for an even higher office.
“Washington still has a lot of listening to do and I’m going to make sure they hear us. Texans deserve a senator who represents our values: strength, courage, independence, putting Texas first,” Hegar narrated in the ad. “I didn’t get a pilot slot my first time trying, but we Texans don’t give up easy.”
During the campaign ad, Hegar touted the increased voter turnout during the 2018 election cycle, as well as former Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s controversial expletive after his loss to Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, which she noted was “Texas making its voice heard.” Donned in a leather jacket and riding a motorcycle, she also took a swipe at Cornyn.
“For those of you who don’t know Sen. John Cornyn, he’s that tall guy lurching behind [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell in basically every single video. He calls himself ‘Big John’ but he shrinks out of the way while Mitch McConnell gets in the way of anything actually getting done in our government,” Hegar said. “And now, John Cornyn’s shrinking out of the way again while they try to take away protections for those of us with preexisting health conditions.”
“Weakness, partisanship, gridlock — those are not Texas values, John,” she continued. “Maybe you’ve been in Washington so long that you’ve forgotten that. Well luckily for us, Big John, I’m running to remind you.”
Cornyn’s campaign responded to Hegar’s ad on Twitter by asking, “Who got 65% of their donations from outside of Texas and was supported by Hollywood liberals like Rosie O’Donnell?” with a link to a quiz.
Who got 65% of their donations from outside of Texas and was supported by Hollywood liberals like Rosie O’Donnell? TAKE THE QUIZ:
— Team Cornyn (@TeamCornyn) April 23, 2019
Julian Castro, who announced in January that he is seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency, revealed Tuesday morning that his twin brother, Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, is still considering launching his own Senate run against Cornyn. According to Julian Castro, his brother is “gonna make a decision in the next few days.”
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