MJ Hegar wins Senate runoff in Texas, setting stage to take on John Cornyn
“As a working mom who’s lived many of the challenges facing working families across the state, I’m so proud to lead the effort to take back our state from politicians like John Cornyn who are more D.C. than Texas,” Hegar said in a statement celebrating her victory.
The dynamics of the primary were similar to others around the country that shifted as thousands of Americans joined protests against racial injustice. West, who is African American, had captured momentum as the change candidate against establishment pick Hegar, though he has 27 years in elected office.
Most observers believed Cornyn would have a much easier ride to reelection than fellow Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who narrowly held on to his seat in 2018 against former Democratic congressman Beto O’Rourke.
But Texas, which gave President Trump a nine-point win four years ago, has been drifting more into the swing-state column, and recent polling shows a competitive race between the president and Democrat Joe Biden.
That gives Democrats more hope, and, after settling on Hegar as their preferred nominee, they rallied a broad group to support her during the final days of the primary runoff against West.
Hegar and her allies — including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Emily’s List — outspent West $85 to $1 in the homestretch of the campaign, according to an analysis by the Texas Tribune.
Cornyn, signaling that he believes the underfunded West would be easier to beat than Hegar, launched a late advertisement designed to look like he was attacking West’s liberal positions. Instead, the ad aimed to boost West, showing the black politician with liberals who are popular with Texas primary voters, including Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D).
“Now we know why Royce West is standing with left-wing politicians,” the narrator says. “He’s on their side, not ours.”
Hegar has tried to keep the focus on Cornyn, pointing toward a general-election campaign that she wants to be about how Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) are handling the coronavirus pandemic. Her campaign on Monday lashed out at a tweet from Cornyn on Sunday asking which scientists need to be trusted to fight the pandemic.
“Senator Cornyn has consistently and repeatedly undermined the reality of the pandemic, and Texans are done with his failed leadership,” said Jake Lewis, Hegar’s spokesman.
In Maine, state House Speaker Sara Gideon won the Democratic primary and will face Sen. Susan Collins (R) in November. Millions of dollars have already poured into that race, both to the candidate coffers and from outside groups eager to oust Collins, sparked in part by her vote to confirm Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Also in Texas, former White House physician Ronny L. Jackson won the nomination to replace Rep. Mac Thornberry (R) in one of the most conservative districts in the nation. Jackson got Trump’s endorsement but trailed agriculture lobbyist Josh Winegarner in the March primary, triggering a runoff.
Winegarner, who was backed by Thornberry, had accused Jackson of running for Congress as a backup plan after he was forced to withdraw his nomination to be Trump’s secretary of Veterans Affairs. Jackson, meanwhile, touted his close relationship with the president as an asset to the district.
Pete Sessions, who had been in the House for 22 years before losing in the Democratic wave of 2018, won the chance to compete to return to Congress. Rather than run for his old seat in the suburbs of Dallas, Sessions moved 100 miles south to run in a more conservative district. He failed to win the primary outright, facing Renee Swann, a political outsider who was backed by the district’s current congressman, retiring Rep. Bill Flores (R), in Tuesday’s runoff.
The Republican runoff to replace retiring Rep. Will Hurd (R) in a Texas district Democrats believe is within reach was still too close to call. Before Hurd, who is considered a moderate in today’s Republican Party, stepped aside, he was being challenged from the right by retired Air Force Col. Raul Reyes. Hurd endorsed as his successor former Navy officer Tony Gonzales, as did Trump and other GOP congressional leaders. But Reyes secured a last-minute endorsement from Cruz, who ran ads for him that called Reyes a “conservative warrior.”
