M. J. Hegar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mary Ottilie von Stein (1976-03-16)March 16, 1976 (age 49) Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Texas at Austin (BA,MBA) |
| Website | Campaign website[usurped] |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1999–2011 |
| Rank |  Major |
Mary Jennings Hegar (néevon Stein;[1] born March 16, 1976) is an AmericanUnited States Air Force veteran and former political candidate.[2] In 2012, she sued the U.S. Air Force to remove theCombat Exclusion Policy.[3][4] In 2017, she published the memoirShoot Like a Girl, which describes her service inAfghanistan.[5]
In July 2017, Hegar announced her candidacy for theDemocratic nomination forUnited States House of Representatives toTexas's31st congressional district. After winning the nomination,[6] she lost to incumbentRepublicanJohn Carter by about 3%.[7] She was the Democratic nominee in the2020 United States Senate election in Texas, losing to incumbent RepublicanJohn Cornyn by ten percentage points.
When Hegar was seven years old, her mother, Grace, moved her and her sister fromFairfield, Connecticut, toCedar Park, Texas.[5]: 16 Hegar grew up in Cedar Park,[8] where her mother remarried to a Vietnam veteran, David Jennings, when she was ten.[5]: 14–15
Hegar was her high school class president, on the cheer squad, and played various sports, including soccer.[9]
In 1999, Hegar received aBA from theUniversity of Texas at Austin, where she studied criminology, sociology, philosophy, and world religions.[1] While an undergraduate, she was Vice Wing Commander of Detachment 825AFROTC and Deputy Commander of theArnold Air Society. In 2015, she graduated from Leadership Austin Essential Class.[10] In 2016 she received an ExecutiveMBA, also from the University of Texas at Austin.[11]
In December 1999, Hegar was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force throughROTC at theUniversity of Texas. From April 2000 to March 2004, she served on active duty as an aircraft maintenance officer. Initially stationed atMisawa Air Base inMisawa,Aomori,Japan, she was later stationed atWhiteman Air Force Base nearKnob Noster, Missouri. At Whiteman, Hegar worked on theF-16 Fighting Falcon and theB-2 Stealth Bomber. Her maintenance career culminated in responsibility for 75% of all B-2 maintenance as a captain and selection as the Company Grade Officer of the Year for 2003.[citation needed]
In 2004, theAir National Guard selected Hegar for pilot training. Upon completion of her training at the top of her class, she served two deployments toAfghanistan as aHH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter pilot, flyingCombat Search and Rescue[12] on over 100 missions[13] as well asMedevac missions as a helicopter pilot.[14][15][16] As a member of the California Air National Guard, she worked as a pilot and trainer at theSan Jose-based Counterdrug Task Force from 2007 to 2011.
In addition to the deployments to Afghanistan during theOperation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, Hegar flew marijuana eradication missions, suppressed wildfires with buckets of water on cargo slings, performed pilot duties in evacuating survivors from hurricane-devastated cities, and rescued civilians on civilsearch and rescue missions in California and at sea.[5]
On July 29, 2009, on her third tour to Afghanistan, Hegar and her co-pilot were shot down nearKandahar while on a combat search-and-rescue mission.[17] She received shrapnel wounds in her arm and leg fromTaliban ground fire, but her helicopter was able to rescue the soldiers it had been sent to help. Under further heavy fire, her helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing. Other U.S. Army helicopters rescued her, her team, and the other soldiers, but because the rescue helicopters were small and full, she and others had to fly out standing on the skids.[18][19]
Hegar was awarded thePurple Heart in December 2009.[16] Her actions on this mission earned her theDistinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device, awarded in 2011.[20] She was one of the few women to receive this medal afterAmelia Earhart.[21][22] In 2016, she described a 2007 mission to medevac a child in great detail in aTEDx Talks presentation.[23]
Due to the restriction of theCombat Exclusion Policy on women applying for ground combat positions, and because she was medically disqualified from flying due to a serious back injury sustained during the 2009 mission,[24] Hegar transitioned out of theAir National Guard and became a Reservist Liaison.[3]
In 2010, Hegar relocated to Austin and worked as aprogram manager atSeton Healthcare Family until 2015. From 2015 to 2017, she worked as a consultant atDell Computers.[9]
Hegar has taught at theUniversity of Texas at Austin'sMcCombs School of Business and in the ROTC and women's studies departments.[citation needed] She has mentored cadets at UT[25] and has served on the AFROTC Advisory Committee.
In March 2017, theBerkley Books imprint ofPenguin Books published Hegar's memoir,Shoot Like a Girl, in a new military division called Caliber.[18] In 2016, it was announced that the movie rights to the book had been optioned byTriStar Pictures, withAngelina Jolie reportedly in negotiations for the lead role.[26][27]
On July 6, 2017, Hegar announced that she would run for theDemocratic nomination for U.S. Representative inTexas's31st congressional district.[2] In May 2018, she won the nomination.[6] In June, Hegar released a short-form political ad, "Doors", that described her military career, including being shot down in Afghanistan. The video went viral and drew the attention of celebrities likeLin-Manuel Miranda.[28][29][30] Inthe November election she lost to Republican incumbentJohn Carter, who received 50.6% of the vote to her 47.6%; it was Carter's narrowest win in his nine elections to Congress.
On April 23, 2019, Hegar announced that she was running for the Democratic nomination in the2020 United States Senate election in Texas for the seat held byJohn Cornyn.[31] She came in first in theMarch 3, 2020, primary with 22.37% of the vote, and won the July 14 runoff againstTexas state SenatorRoyce West, who had received 14.7% of the primary vote.[32]
Hegar's campaign received the endorsement of former presidentBarack Obama on September 25, 2020.[33] Her campaign focused on her support for theAffordable Care Act (Obamacare), protecting individuals withpreexisting conditions, and creating apublic health insurance option.[34][35] Cornyn won the election, 54% to 44%.[36] Occurring during 2020, which saw historically high turnout, Hegar received 4,888,764 votes.
Shortly after the 2009 mission in which Hegar was wounded in Afghanistan, she was medically disqualified from flying. The military's Combat Exclusion Policy automatically excluded her from applying for ground combat positions that would have moved her military career forward.[22] She was barred from cross-training for a ground combat position (such as a special tactics officer) despite her expertise as a pilot, which had it not been for her gender would have been a next step.[21][37]
In 2012, Hegar was the lead plaintiff alongside former U.S. Marine Corps Captain Zoe Bedell, U.S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Colleen Farrell, U.S. Army Reserves Staff Sergeant Jennifer Hunt, and the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) in a lawsuit againstU.S. Secretary of DefenseLeon Panetta asserting that theCombat Exclusion Policy was unconstitutional.[21][38][39] Hegar said the suit was about military effectiveness and would give military commanders a larger pool of applicants.[18] The lawsuit failed, but the policy, implemented in 1994, was repealed in January 2013.[13][40][41]
In 2011, Hegar married Brandon Hegar, whom she knew from high school. She and her family live inRound Rock, Texas, a suburb ofAustin.[29] She has two sons as well as stepchildren from her husband's previous marriage.[18][23]
Hegar has many tattoos, which were prominently featured in her 2018 viral campaign ad, "Doors."[42] She has said that the cherry blossom tattoo on her shoulder was a way to cover up shrapnel scar tissue, to take control and make the wounds beautiful. In her book, she mentions being sexually assaulted by an Air Force medic during a physical exam.[22][43] The ad also discussed thedomestic violence perpetrated by her father against her, her mother, and her sister during her adolescent years.[44][45]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Aviator: Capt. Mary Jennings, 129th RQS
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromTexas (Class 2) 2020 | Most recent |
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| National | |
