U.S. Senate candidate MJ Hegar is calling on Sen. John Cornyn to join her in three televised debates.
“We owe Texas voters multiple opportunities to hear Senator Cornyn and me debate our plans for Texas,” Hegar said in a prepared statement. “We all know John Cornyn hasn’t had to face the voters in some time, which is why Texans are counting on him to buck up and participate in three televised statewide debates ahead of the November 3rd election.”
The Hegar campaign said it has agreed to three debate invites from KXAN, WFAA and Spectrum News. All three debates, if agreed to by Cornyn, would take place in October.
The call for a U.S. Senate debate comes the same week as the release of Hegar’s first general election ad, a 40-second spot introducing viewers to her time as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan.
In recent weeks, Hegar has used the hashtag “Corporate Cornyn” to hammer the incumbent senator for his failure in providing financial relief to Texans suffering from the economic consequences of the pandemic. A deal in the GOP-led Senate continues to be stalled.
Polling for August and September shows Cornyn leading Hegar by several points. The latest poll, a Public Policy Polling survey released last week, shows Hegar only four percentage points behind the incumbent senator.
Hegar has been on a roll of late, as the combat vet has emerged as one of the leading voices criticizing President Donald Trump for his horrific comments about veterans and servicemembers.
Photo: MJ for Texas
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
