--- title: MJ Hegar's Viral Campaign Ad Racks Up 4 Million Views description: MJ Hegar is a combat veteran and a mom running against Rep. John Carter in Texas' 31st Congressional District. canonical: https://time.com/5321573/mj-hegar-congress-campaign-ad-texas/ author: Alix Langone article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-25T22:27:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:40:39.602Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch the Election Ad From a Veteran That Everyone Is Talking About og:description: It's racked up nearly 4 million views online og:url: https://time.com/5321573/mj-hegar-congress-campaign-ad-texas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b6d60c20bb7dd38/698933dc0a4a22504a9d30af/mj-heger-viral-ad-texas-doors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: mj-heger-viral-ad-texas-doors og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch the Election Ad From a Veteran That Everyone Is Talking About twitter:description: It's racked up nearly 4 million views online twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b6d60c20bb7dd38/698933dc0a4a22504a9d30af/mj-heger-viral-ad-texas-doors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch the Election Ad From a Veteran That Everyone Is Talking About > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone Jun 25, 2018 10:27 PM UTC  Courtesy of MJ For Texas by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone Jun 25, 2018 10:27 PM UTC A combat veteran and mom running for Congress has racked up nearly 4 million views online with a viral ad that tells her personal story – and attacks her Republican opponent. [MJ Hegar](https://www.mjfortexas.com/) is a Democrat trying to break through against Rep. John Carter in Texas’ 31st Congressional District. [The Cook Political Report](https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings) rates the race as “likely Republican.” The ad, titled “Doors,” tracks Hegar’s journey through the [doors she says she has opened](http://time.com/watch-the-trailer-for-time-firsts/) for herself and others. Hegar narrates the highly produced spot and describes her military career, which included three tours in Afghanistan as a Medevac pilot. Her experience there culminated in being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor and the Purple Heart after her helicopter was shot down. Hegar uses the metaphor of “doors” to explain that she sometimes found herself “kicking through doors” to pursue her dream of becoming a pilot. In 2012, after she was shot down, [she successfully sued the Department of Defense](http://ideas.time.com/2012/12/03/banning-women-from-comat-makes-no-sens/), arguing that the military’s Combat Exclusion Policy, which prohibited women from serving in many combat jobs, was unconstitutional. In 2013, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta changed the policy. Hegar also takes jabs at Carter, who she says refused to meet with her when she was lobbying for the military rule change – implying it was because she wasn’t a donor. “Congressman Carter hasn’t had a tough race his entire career,” Hegar ends the ad, “so, we’ll show him tough, and then we’ll show him the door.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5321573/mj-hegar-congress-campaign-ad-texas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5321573/mj-hegar-congress-campaign-ad-texas/"},"headline":"Watch the Election Ad From a Veteran That Everyone Is Talking About","datePublished":"2018-06-25T22:27:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:40:39.602Z","description":"MJ Hegar was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor and the Purple Heart","url":"https://time.com/5321573/mj-hegar-congress-campaign-ad-texas/","keywords":["2018 Elections","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b6d60c20bb7dd38/698933dc0a4a22504a9d30af/mj-heger-viral-ad-texas-doors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alix Langone","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alix-langone/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b6d60c20bb7dd38/698933dc0a4a22504a9d30af/mj-heger-viral-ad-texas-doors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"mj-heger-viral-ad-texas-doors","caption":"","creditText":"Courtesy of MJ For Texas","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2018-elections/","name":"2018 Elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5321573/mj-hegar-congress-campaign-ad-texas/","name":"Watch the Election Ad From a Veteran That Everyone Is Talking About"}}]}] ```