“It is a common misperception that Ted Cruz is wildly unpopular in the state,” said Hegar in an interview for POLITICO’s Women Rule podcast. “Ted Cruz cut his teeth politically in Texas on disrupting the Republican establishment, and Texans love a fighter. It’s the same thing that has made me successful is that when people look at me, they see a fighter, somebody who takes on the establishment, who isn’t intimidated, and is willing to kick through doors.”

“This is more of a Ted Cruz state than it is a Donald Trump state,” said Hegar. Which is why she believes she can win.

Central to Hegar’s political identity is her military service, which includes three tours in Afghanistan. On the last of those tours, she piloted a helicopter that was shot down by the Taliban. Hegar herself was shot in the process. In the ensuing rescue mission, her actions saved the lives of her crew and earned her the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor. The door from that helicopter now hangs on a wall in her house — and was featured in a viral ad during her 2018 congressional campaign.

That race, which Hegar lost by less than three percentage points, saw her try to flip a heavily Republican seat in the suburbs of Austin — a district “gerrymandered to be much redder than the rest of the state, so it was really like a giant focus group for running a statewide campaign,” said Hegar. “If you adjust for the gerrymandering, we would have won that race if it was a mini Texas.”

The candidate recalls driving through the northern part of her district and seeing houses boasting yard signs supporting both her and Ted Cruz.

“I would be like, ‘Stop the car,’ and go find out what’s going on,” she said. “And I would knock on the door, and they would say, ‘We don’t care. We don’t care what your policy positions are. We just want a fighter. We know you guys will disagree and you’ll fight against each other sometimes, but you’ll be fighting for us.’”

Hegar says that Cornyn doesn’t enjoy that sort of reputation.

“He’s always just in kind of coast mode, and self-preservation, and just not leading and taking any risks. And you know, that’s not something that people would normally say about Ted Cruz, although I disagree with what Ted Cruz thinks is right for this state,” she said. “Texans and independent voters like to vote for somebody who is going to buck the status quo, and isn’t going to do as he is told.”

Case in point: the looming impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump.

Cornyn is “full-on in support of the president without seeing any evidence and any result of investigation,” said Hegar. “And that concerns me regardless of what your party is.”

Hegar, who supports the investigation, said she is “equally” troubled by “anybody who’s going to reflex to, ‘We absolutely need to impeach.’ You know, not just the investigation, but actually voting [Trump] out of office because they don’t like his policies. I don’t like his policies, but I would like to see him lose an election because his policies aren’t working for working families in Texas.”

Famously, Democrats have not won a statewide office in Texas in a quarter-century, through election cycle after cycle of pundits chattering about the seeming inevitability of the ruby-red Republican crown jewel, turning blue. O’Rourke came close in 2018, losing to Cruz by three points.

For her part, Hegar is undaunted.

“Having a path to elected office was never the goal for me,” she said. “I’m a medevac pilot. I have spent time suppressing wildfires and things like that. And as a combat pilot, I tend to find the biggest bucket of water I can find and put it on the biggest fire I can find, right?”

To hear more from MJ Hegar, listen to the full podcast here. Women Rule takes listeners backstage with female bosses for real talk on how they made it and what advice they have for women looking to lead.