Hegar’s voting record examined
WASHINGTON — MJ Hegar, the former Air Force pilot running as a Democrat against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, voted for Republican presidential nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012, she told Hearst Newspapers on Tuesday.
The revelation that she twice voted against former President Barack Obama — who has endorsed her in the Senate race — comes after she was accused of being a “Democrat in name only” during a bitter primary runoff with longtime state Sen. Royce West, a Dallas Democrat.
Hegar, who grew up in conservative Williamson County and served in the military until 2012, said that year was a turning point in her political evolution and she has been a Democrat since. A spokeswoman for Hegar said she could not remember whether she voted for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2012, though she voted against him in 2018.
“While I have been a Democrat for nearly a decade, like many of my fellow Texans, I’ve voted for candidates from both parties in the past, including voting Republican as late as 2012,” Hegar said.
In 2012, Hegar was a lead plaintiff ina suit filed with the American Civil Liberties Union against the Pentagon challenging a rule known as the combat exclusion policy, which imposed restrictions on womenin aviation units. Ayear later, those restrictions were canceled by the Obama administration.
“My vote in 2012 served as a turning point for me, having just left the military and partnering with a coalition of female combat veterans that successfully opened up hundreds of thousands of jobs for women in the military, I realized the values I had always held were, in fact, more in line with Democratic priorities,” Hegar said.
Hegar has said before that she
voted for Cornyn in 2002 and for Carly Fiorina in the 2016 Republican primary, though she described the Fiorina vote as a protest against Trump. Hegar said she voted for Democrats Hillary Clinton in 2016, Beto O’Rourke in 2018 and Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 primary.
Despite voting against Obama, she later referred to his presidency as a “golden age” and was criticized for supporting the former president during her 2018 run against U.S. Rep. John Carter, a Williamson County Republican.
In her Senate campaign, she has the backing of the Democratic establishment, including former Vice President Joe Biden and the campaign arm of Senate Democrats.
“My experience understanding both sides allowed me to put the politics and partisanship aside and successfully build a broad coalition to get an outdated policy overturned,” she said. “That is the type of experience we need more of in Washington, not more go along, get along career politicians like Senator Cornyn.”
Hegar is aiming to be the first Democrat to win a statewide race in decades. She raised $13.5 million after emerging in July as theDemocratic nominee, though she has consistently trailed Cornyn in polling.
Democrats hope the decorated combat veteran and self-described motorcycle-riding “badass” will appeal to crossover voters, especially in the suburbs. She described herself in her interview with the editorial board on Tuesday as “more moderate” than some other Democrats, saying, “I disagree with wiping away all student loan debt and ‘Medicare For All’ and the Green New Deal.”
“In the Democratic Party, you have so many people who disagree with each other that it’s hard to say what do you disagree with the party about. I disagree with certain elements of the party,” Hegar said. “In the Republican Party, it’s more, ‘Get in lock step, you better do as you’re told or you’re not welcome here.’”
Duringa meeting with the Houston Chronicle editorial board on Tuesday, Hegar said she voted for McCain. She detailed her voting record, including voting Republican in 2012, for Hearst Newspapers afterward.
When asked by the editorial board, Hegar offered McCain as one example of a senator she would seek to emulate.
“I greatly respected John McCain and his ability to bring people together and his ability to stand up to his own party,” Hegar said. “I believe I stand up to my own party, and I believe he was a servant leader.”
Asked how she would work with Cruz if elected, Hegar said she is “really excited about working with Ted Cruz, because I keep hearing about how even Republicans don’t like him.”
“He has a standing lunch date with me. I’ll have lunch with him every day,” Hegar said. “I can work with people who I think I just disagree with, but who have the best interest of our citizens at heart.”