Rep. Carter's New Challenger: A Decorated Combat Vet

It was a tough decision for Democrat M.J. Hegar to challenge Republican Rep. John Carter's congressional seat. Carter has been District 31's representative since its inception in 2003, and no Democrat has ever gotten more than 39 percent of the vote running against him. A long, grueling battle lies ahead of Hegar, but she's used to fighting.

Hegar joined the Air Force in 1999, commissioned through the ROTC program at the University of Texas. She started off as a maintenance officer, ensuring F-16 fighters and B-2 bombers were flight-ready. Then she was selected for helicopter pilot training and flew medevac and search-and-rescue missions, deploying three times to Afghanistan and reaching the rank of major.

It was on her third deployment, on July 29, 2009, when she entrenched herself into military history. She was co-piloting a medevac helicopter to pick up some urgently wounded American troops. They knew the landing zone would be hot — enemies present and shooting — by the presence of Army support helicopters.

They landed next to the convoy and sent out the Air Force pararescue jumpers (PJs); PJs are a mix of commandos and EMTs. Then, Hegar's helicopter took off, because "first of all, we're a target. But secondly, we're kicking up a lot of dirt and dust ... it just makes it hard for people on the ground," she said.

As they were about to take off, Taliban fire came in. A round hit the windshield in front of Hegar, fragmenting into little pieces that peppered her right arm and right leg. Members of her crew wanted to head back to base immediately, since their copilot had been hit.

"I was like, 'Hang on a second, I'm actually fine. I know it's a lot of blood.' So I showed them I was able to function, so they said, 'Alright, let's go back in.'"

For the second time, they landed by the convoy. But this time, the Taliban had a heavy machine gun ready.

"We started taking fire from the tail to the nose. It was tearing up our helicopter really badly. So the medics and PJs loaded the patients onto the aircraft," she said. "We tried to take off, but we found out pretty quickly that we were too disabled to fly back and were losing too much fuel."

Hegar pushed a lever which diverted fuel from a busted tank to a good engine, allowing them to make it out.

Their beaten up helicopter made it 1.8 miles from their initial pick-up zone, she said, before going down. The Army support helicopters circling above "were getting low on fuel and ammo, so they landed to take us out. We basically just had to stand on the skids and hold onto the rocket pod, and I was firing at the Taliban.

"Everybody did something that saved the lives of the crew and the patients," Hegar said.

Everybody in the crew was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross that day. That cross is earned for "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight."

They were all also awarded the Valor Device on their crosses, meaning while earning those awards, they showed valor in combat. "The valor device was because we went back in when we could have gone home."

Hegar is the second woman ever to have earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with a Valor Device.

It makes sense that Hegar would see the Combat Exclusion Policy, which prohibited women from serving in combat roles, as a detrimental policy. She was awarded for her valor in combat, yet women can't serve in combat roles?

So, in 2012, she sued the Secretary of Defense. She and her team of women veterans were the lead complainants, claiming that the policy prevented women from going through training that everybody needs in today's dynamic war zones without front lines.

The Combat Exclusion Policy was repealed in 2013. "It wasn’t just morally and ethically right, but the best thing for the military," she said.

Her book, "Shoot Like A Girl," chronicles her hardships in Afghanistan and her battle in Washington for women in combat. Sen. John McCain called the book a "must-read about an American patriot whose courage and determination will have a lasting impact on the future of our Armed Forces and the nation."

She feels like now is the time to get into public service. "I do feel a calling any time I feel like the Constitution is under threat. I did take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of good, but not replacing enough bad," she told Patch.

Hegar said that Carter hasn't had to face an opponent like her in the past. "I think that he’s never stood against an opponent who has real fundraising capability or had a back story that could compete in a red district, or could compete in a district that has a military base," she said.

In her youth, she voted Republican. She considered herself a social liberal and fiscal conservative. But she also never thought that the civil liberties built over the past several decades would be at risk.

"I never thought we’d live in a country where we were enacting travel bans and stoke Islamophobia by suggesting that Muslims register," she said. "That doesn't sound like America to me."

She thinks her experiences in Afghanistan make her a stronger candidate on foreign policy and national security. She, like many recent veterans, has spent time with many Afghans who risk their lives and the lives of their families to help American and Coalition forces. They served as intelligence sources, interpreters and base workers all in support of the American mission.

"When you tell me... that we're denying those people visas because we suspect they're terrorists... beyond being morally reprehensible.

"It’s a huge national security risk to treat people like that," she said.

Hegar believes national security and health care are the most pressing matters for Americans. She is a proponent of universal health care, noting that the Affordable Care Act was a step in the right direction. "We need to look at trying to fix that," she said, adding she is leaning toward a Medicare-for-all-style plan.

On gun violence, she believes the answer isn't so simple as to say we need more or less guns. "There are a lot of problems in this country that we need to look at if we want to stop the rising tide of gun violence," she said.

She strongly supports the Second Amendment. "I have five firearms in my own home," she said. "I take full responsibility for whose hands those firearms get into."

Hegar said certain common-sense gun regulations could help curb the problem, like wider background checks and not selling guns to people on the no-fly list or to those convicted of domestic violence. Addressing issues like mental health, race relations and police brutality could also help cure the problem, she said.

Hegar believes people should make more money by having a livable minimum wage. But simply raising the national minimum wage to $15 wouldn't solve the problem. A $15-an-hour job in El Paso, Texas, is quite different from a $15-an-hour job in San Francisco, she said, noting that whatever the plan, small businesses must be protected.

Hegar announced her candidacy on July 6.

Article image via MJforTexas.com