MJ Hegar

“When I was in my third tour in Afghanistan, I was shot down. I was injured to the point where I couldn't fly anymore, so I looked into what ground jobs I could do that fulfilled me as an adrenaline junkie and, more importantly, utilized my experience.”

“Being in a male-dominated career field as a combat pilot, I got used to kind of blocking out the lies in the attacks that people would levy against me and trying to tell me who I am and define who I am when I know what I'm fighting for.”

“I'm a huge fan of bipartisanship and working together to get things done.”

“I think women are sick of the men in office telling us they are going to protect our rights and fight for us.”

“And I'm used to being underestimated and I'm used to taking on tough fights and winning.”

“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.”

“I didn't get a pilot slot my first time trying. We Texans don't give up easy, and everything we've accomplished is just the beginning.”

“It's important not to try to convince others of your own reasons for change. Finding the reason why they should want to support your efforts is the key to effective change management.”

“Our country has an opportunity to live up to our title as the leaders of the free world and to live up to our potential as being a beacon of freedom and hope and democracy - but not while that opportunity is not equal for everyone.”

“We've got to tell our stories to influence culture, and we have to get more people elected who have faced challenges like domestic violence, working minimum-wage jobs, wondering how to get food on the table... regular people.”

“There's a reason that you hear something like 90 percent of our country wants universal background checks, but we can't get it passed legislatively. If we had a true representative democracy, 90 percent of our elected officials would want universal background checks.”

“The reasons I put the uniform on are the same reasons I'm running for office.”

“In the military, we are thrown into a melting pot of cultures and communities and we disagree a lot on how to accomplish the mission, but when it comes time to get the work done, we focus our energy on accomplishing the mission.”

“I've seen men and women who were fit for combat that I wanted to fight beside, and men and women who I really wouldn't want to go back into combat with. It really doesn't have anything to do with gender.”

“I'm not a big fan of dealing with stereotypes because I think everybody's unique and I have met plenty of people who have bucked their stereotypes. But there are things that women are physiologically better suited to.”

“Texas kind of operates as if we're our own little country.”

“In the military, there's a sense of camaraderie that can sometimes make people bystanders. There were a lot of really good men that I served with, but many of them watched me get discriminated against while looking the other way.”

“If we elect people who have never been to public school, never had to worry about counting on Social Security, then how can they effectively legislate?”

“The biggest problem in our government is that even those people who are there that are good and well-intended, there's too many people in positions to write legislation who have never experienced the challenges of regular people.”

“History will do what it always does. It will make ignorant statements, in retrospect, seem shortsighted and discriminatory, and the women who will serve their country bravely in the jobs that are now opening up will prove them wrong. Just like we always have.”