Campaign

Republican John Carter holds off challenge from Dem combat veteran in Texas

Republican Rep. John Carter (Texas) defeated challenger Mary Jennings “M.J.” Hegar (D) to win his eighth House term after a heated contest that drew national attention.

A television ad from Hegar in which she said her GOP opponent didn’t know “shit” about war quickly went viral.

Hegar, a combat vet, had posted the video after Carter reportedly compared their hotly fought campaign to “war.”

{mosads}“It’s a war. We’re going to win. I’m ahead, and I will stay ahead,” Carter had said.

Hegar fired back in the video.

“Well, respectfully congressman, you don’t know shit about war,” she said and touting her military experience, which included three terms in Afghanistan.

Carter, though, held a double-digit lead in an October poll in a district that was rated by Cook Political Report as “likely Republican.”

Carter, 76, was first elected to represent Texas’s 31st Congressional District, located north of Austin, in 2002.