SAN ANTONIO (CN) — In a runoff election that veered into personal attacks in the closing weeks, Democratic voters on Tuesday will decide between a retired Air Force pilot and a longtime state senator, both of whom think they’re the right candidate to defeat Republican Senator John Cornyn in November.
In a year upended by the Covid-19 pandemic and nationwide protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, decorated combat veteran MJ Hegar and state Senator Royce West have been locked in a bitter battle for their party’s nomination for a chance to unseat Cornyn, a three-term incumbent.
Lifted by powerful forces in the party, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and national progressive groups, Hegar, a retired helicopter pilot and Purple Heart recipient, enters Tuesday’s runoff with an edge. Her fundraising advantage over West and support from groups including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Emily’s List have allowed her to buy TV spots in the final stretch of the campaign in the state’s four major media markets: Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.
Hegar, who nearly unseated Republican Congressman John Carter in 2018, came out on top in the March primaries among a crowded field of 11 other candidates, bringing in over 143,000 votes more than West, an attorney who’s spent the last 27 years in the Texas Senate.
But West, who hopes to become Texas’ first Black U.S. Senator, insists he is the “true Democrat” in the race who can mount a serious general election challenge to Cornyn. West and Hegar have continued to clash over experience, electability and party devotion, issues brought out at a June 29 debate that have since spilled over into social media charges of racism, sexism and possible ethics violations.
Mark P. Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy, said while the aftermath of Floyd’s tragic death at the hands of police helped West’s chances of winning the nomination, Hegar is still considered the frontrunner based on her financial resources and ability to advertise in the large, traditionally expensive state.
“But it certainly is not a lead that is insurmountable in the sense that both Royce West and MJ Hegar have a realistic prospect of victory, only the probability that Hegar wins is still higher than West,” Jones said in an interview. “They pretty much have to get personal because there isn’t much difference between them ideologically in that they’re both centrist Democrats, relatively pragmatic, reasonable…so they’re going to differentiate themselves based on personal factors.”
Hegar, 44, has accused West of being a career politician who has used his decades in office to enrich himself by securing lucrative contracts for legal work to public entities such as local school boards and municipalities. She’s also made an issue of his dealings as a quasi-lobbyist, which, while legal under Texas’ lax ethics laws, could also be used as a line of attack by Cornyn in November.
West, 67, claims Hegar, who has never held public office, is not a real Democrat and lacks the experience needed to deliver on issues like climate change and voting rights in a state that has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since the 1990s.
“I didn’t want to go down this road, Royce,” Hegar said at their last debate.
“Let’s go,” West said. “I’m from the projects of Dallas and if you’re taking a shot at me because I have been a successful lawyer, basically providing job opportunities for people in my community, then take that shot. I have no problems with that.”
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