Texas Candidate MJ Hegar Thinks She Can Turn a Red State Blue
*By Max Godnick*
House Representative John Carter (R-TX) hasn't won a race by fewer than twenty points in a decade, but this year might be different.
Enter MJ Hegar, the Air Force veteran and Purple Heart recipient running for Congress in her native state's 31st district. Back in 2012, she sued the Department of Defense and won, leading to the repeal of the unconstitutional Ground Combat Exclusion Policy. Now, she's got her sight on the Republican incumbent.
"He's never faced somebody like me," Hegar told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin in an interview on Monday.
The self-described "motorcycle-riding, Texas Democrat" won her party's primary in March and is mobilizing her supporters to turn one of the Lone Star State's most reliably red districts blue.
"We are putting together a campaign that's unlike anything \[Carter's\] seen," she said. "We're just going to out-raise him and outwork him."
The hard work is already starting to pay off. In June, Hegar released a campaign video called ["Doors"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi6v4CYNSIQ) that quickly skyrocketed to viral success - racking up over two and a half million YouTube views in just a week, and over four million views across all online platforms. The video features slick and professional production techniques to tell the candidate's story by focusing on the many important doors in her life.
"What ended up happening was a really amazing, resonating video that has touched people all over the country," Hegar said.
Democratic candidates from across the nation would be wise to look to the video's success as a source of inspiration toward finding a new and effective way of reaching out to and engaging with voters. Hegar noted that the ad's content is not explicitly political, something she thinks can help other candidates from her party.
"People don't ask if you're a Republican or a Democrat anymore these days in my district," she said. "They ask, 'What are you going to do?' 'Are you going to answer your phone when I call?' 'Are you going to shut your door on me?'"
Hegar hopes her candidacy will be a part of a national "blue wave" that carries Democrats from around the country to victory in both House and Senate races. While everything might be bigger in Texas, voter turnout isn't. The state had the country's lowest voter turnout in the 2014 midterm elections. Hegar says part of the battle will be teaching voters that Democratic success in Texas, while rare in recent years, is not unprecedented.
"We're doing our best to remind people that this is the state of LBJ, Anne Richards, Barbara Jordan," she said. "Some strong, kick-ass Democratic women."
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-the-democratic-congressional-campaign-gone-viral).
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri faced a bipartisan Congressional grilling this week as the Senate inquired about safety practices for protecting the mental wellbeing of young people on the platform. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) joined Cheddar to talk about the hearing and how she was disappointed in Instagram coming unprepared with relevant information or documents. Blackburn also offered concern that the platform could continue with building a kids-only version despite having drawn significant opposition from the public.
The Great Resignation has shown some signs of slowing in October with the number of those who quit their jobs falling by 4.7 percent to 4.16 million. This comes as worker strikes and calls for unionization ramp up. Jane Oates, president at WorkingNation joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to discuss the implications.
U.S. markets opened lower despite positive jobs data, which saw weekly claims drop to a 52-year low. Kevin Nicholson, Co-CIO Global Fixed Income, RiverFront Investment Group joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the labor market, inflation, and the impact of the Omicron variant on global markets.
A packed Thursday pod: Carlo and Baker cover the latest developments in the Ghislaine Maxwell, Jussie Smollett and Elizabeth Holmes trials. Plus, Dems are losing the Hispanic vote, Boris Johnson in trouble again, and is it possible that Adele has peaked?
Jim Bruderman, Vice Chairman at 1879 Advisors, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says investors experienced a 'panic attack' last week with the spread of the Omicron variant and the Fed's tapering plans. As a result, he says we're now seeing stocks climb due to a growing comfort level toward both developments.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, faced withering questions on Capitol Hill about the reports the social media app was aware of the severe mental health impacts it was having on teenage girls. Karen Kornbluh, the director of digital innovation and democracy for the German Marshall Fund, joined Cheddar to discuss the rare show of bipartisan outrage on display at the Senate hearing. "The senators came really loaded for bear on both sides of the aisle," she said. Kornbluh explained how senators like Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) set up fake Instagram accounts with teen girl profiles in order to research the effects firsthand.
The Biden administration will not send an official U.S. delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing as a statement against China's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang." Weifeng Zhong, senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, joins Cheddar News to discuss the boycott.
