MJ Hegar Is Running for Senate Against Big John Cornyn

Membership Ticker

Monika Bauerlein, CEO

Dear reader,

This is big. $25 million big. I'm excited to write to you about The Moment for Mother Jones: a five-year push to make key investments and strengthen our work at a time when journalism faces threats—both political and economic—like never before. We’ve raised more than 90 percent of our $25 million goal, and now that we're in the homestretch, we're asking the entire MoJo community to be part of it. Read more about The Moment and please join us with a donation today: Your gift will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $500,000 total.

$500,000 MATCHING GIFT: Join The Moment for Mother Jones and your gift will be DOUBLED as part of this special, five-year effort to strengthen our journalism at a time when it’s needed like never before.

The Air Force veteran behind one of the most viral videos of the 2018 campaign is back. MJ Hegar—who last year nearly knocked off a longtime GOP congressman in a heavily Republican district—announced Tuesday that she will challenge Texas Sen. John Cornyn in 2020.

Unseating an entrenched incumbent senator is going to be tough, but I’ve faced worse odds in my life. Saddle up, Texas. I’m in. Join me at https://t.co/cDULHGNQXG https://t.co/Xbt0oB4xYD

— MJ Hegar (@mjhegar) April 23, 2019

Hegar burst onto the national scene last year with a video, titled “Doors,” that detailed her military service and her fight against the ban on women in ground combat jobs. She went on to narrowly lose her race against Republican incumbent John Carter in Texas’ 31st congressional district.

Cornyn—who Hegar now hopes to unseat in 2020—has his own experience with viral ads. In 2008, his campaign released a bizarre Wild West-style video called “Big John.”

Hegar referenced “Big John” in her own video announcing her Senate run. “He calls himself ‘Big John,'” she notes, “But he shrinks out of the way while Mitch McConnell gets in the way of anything actually getting done in our government.”