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).
The U.S. is back in negotiations for a nuclear deal with Iran, years after former President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which had been meant to curtail the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear ambitions. Former State Department senior advisor to the George W. Bush and Trump administrations, Christian Whiton, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss. “It appears to be very similar to the original JCPOA, which does put some constraints on Iran's nuclear program, but also has sunset provisions, including some that in the original plan were expected to take effect in 2025," he said. "And so, if we just reenter that plan, really it just buys perhaps a few years of slowing down, stopping, whatever you want to say, Iran's nuclear program."
The U.S. has announced the first of what could be multiple levels of sanctions against Russia after Moscow recognized two regions of Ukraine as independent. This comes as Britain imposes sanctions on five Russian banks and two oligarchs, and Germany freezes the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Terrell Star, a foreign affairs reporter at The Atlantic Council, joins from Kyiv to discuss.
Growing tensions in Ukraine might soon be impacting consumers in the United States. With Russia on an invasion footing in the region, gas prices are predicted to go up 10 to 15 cents a gallon in the next coming weeks, according to Robert Sinclair, spokesperson for AAA. Sinclair joined Cheddar to break down what could happen even further. "We've been seeing prices go up, and there's been nothing that's happened to affect supplies," he said. "But it's something known as the fear tax where just the talk of something that might interfere with supplies leads to prices going up speculatively."
The end of 3G is upon us. On Tuesday, AT&T became the first major provider to disable its 3G services, and T-Mobile and Verizon plan to follow suit later this year. The shutdowns are expected to impact millions of vehicles that use 3G networks for updates, remote connection, and certain emergency and convenience features. Lance Ulanoff, the U.S. Editor-in-Chief of TechRadar, joined Cheddar's Closing Bell to discuss the ramifications of the changeover.
A new report shows nearly 240 former officials in Congress, the White House, and regulatory agencies have changed careers to work in the crypto industry.
President Biden unveiled new economic sanctions on Russia for what he called "the beginning of a Russian invasion". This came one day after Putin sent troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine. Alex Ward, national security reporter for POLITICO, explains what these sanctions might do to the global economy.
U.S. stocks ended today's session sharply lower on the heels of rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Melissa Brown, Managing Director of Applied Research at Qontigo, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. will begin to impose sanctions on Russia, calling recent troop movement into Ukraine an 'invasion.' Biden and other government officials including from the State Department have begun to classify the Russian troop movement as an invasion after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to two independent Ukrainian areas in an alleged "peacekeeping" mission — which the West considers an act of aggression. Biden said Russia will continue to pay 'an even steeper price' if it continues sending troops into Ukraine. What happens next? Will Putin find a way around these sanctions? Ariel Cohen, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joins Closing Bell to discuss Biden's remarks, how the West will protect Ukraine since it doesn't belong to NATO, and more.
