(The photo of Mary "MJ" Hegar , Democratic candidate for U.S. House District 31 in Texas, is from her campaign website.)In a normal election year, if a House candidate raises between $300,000 and $400,000 for their campaign, it is considered to be a triumph. But there are four Texas Democratic candidates running for House seats currently held by Republicans that have blown way past that mark in raising campaign funds.
One of them is the candidate in my own House District -- MJ Hegar, who is running against incumbent John Carter in District 31. Her first campaign video went viral, getting millions of views (https://youtu.be/Zi6v4CYNSIQ) and helping her to raise $750,000. Added to the funds she had already raised, that means she has raised about $1.1 million in the second quarter of this year.
District 31 is listed as "likely Republican", but it looks like Hegar will have the necessary funds to challenge that assumption -- and maybe even unseat the incumbent (who has been in Congress since 2002). This is the first time Carter will face a strong and fully-funded candidate.
The other three Democrats who have raised more than a million dollars are all in districts considered to be very competitive. They are Colin Allred in House District 32 ($1.1 million in second quarter), Gina Ortiz Jones in House District 23 ($1.2 million in second quarter), and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher in House District 7 (over $1 million in second quarter). All three of these districts voted for Clinton in 2016, and with the Democratic candidates being properly funded, could easily flip to Democratic control.
Currently, Democrats control only 11 of the 36 Congressional Districts in Texas. If they could flip 3 or 4 of the GOP-held seats, it would really help Democrats nationwide to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
