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I am an Air Force veteran, a (transplanted) Texan, a Democrat and I am all for women pursuing political office.
I have previously written about political candidates possessing three of the four “qualifications.”
But this is the story of one who has all four and for whom closed doors – whether real or metaphorical — are no obstacle, for she is an ass kicking, door-and-barriers-breaking, motorcycle-riding Texas Democrat.
Austin, Texas, suburbanite Mary Jennings “MJ” Hegar is also a decorated, battle-tested combat pilot, the proud mom of “two precocious kids, ages 2 and 6 months, and three amazingly resilient and smart step kids, ages 16, 10, and 8” and hopefully part of the (blue) wave of female veterans that will change our politics, and our country, for the better this November — part of the ambitious Democratic strategy to appeal to moderate voters this November.
Hegar has a compelling biography that matches perfectly with the broad Democratic strategy to reach moderate voters with a record number of female candidates, many of them battle-tested women.
Molly Mitchell, the Director of Media Affairs for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, says, “We worked tirelessly to recruit a historic number of candidates with records of service, including female veterans…These candidates have powerful personal stories and strong independent profiles that excite the grassroots base and prevent Republicans from successfully putting our candidates into ideological boxes…”
This is her story:
As depicted in the video, “Doors,” (below) Hegar survived childhood domestic abuse. One of her earliest memories is that of watching her dad throw her mom through a glass door.
As a young girl she also dreamt of flying in the Air Force and of “lobbying lawmakers to reverse outdated policies.”
Hegar served in the U.S. Air Force first in aircraft maintenance and eventually realized her dream of flying when she joined the Air National Guard and flew HH-60 Pave Hawks helicopters including during three tours in Afghanistan. Read more
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