My gerrymandered TX-31 Congressional district includes Ft. Hood – the largest active-duty armored military installation in the country. Hence, the military vote here is pretty important. As I’ve noted in previous posts, the Democratic candidate for TX-31 is MJ Hegar. She’s an Air Force veteran who served three tours in Afghanistan as a rescue helicopter pilot and who earned a Purple Heart after being shot down by enemy fire. The Republican incumbent is John Carter, who never served in uniform.
Hegar has run a generally good campaign that raised almost $2M in Q3 – beating Carter’s fundraising by a 3-1 margin. Unfortunately, this is Texas, TX-31 is a Republican stronghold, Carter’s been in his seat for 15 years, and Hegar’s running well behind in recent polls. But that’s okay. She’s trying. She has my vote and I was a small part of her Q3 haul. There’s always hope.
What’s not okay is this flyer mailed to my home address (front & back):
Let’s imagine an internal conversation by a typical voter at the mailbox. This internal dialogue lasts mere seconds in real time:
Great. A junk mail flyer. There’s a soldier, holding his smiling daughter, holding an American flag. Okay, got it. This is a good thing. Of course we need to take care of our military veterans. Let’s flip it over. The name “JOHN CARTER” stands out in all caps and there’s a picture of a smiling guy. Guess that’s John Carter. He must be taking care of the vets. Good for him. Elections are coming up. Maybe I’ll vote for John Carter – if I vote at all. But first I’ll trash this flyer.
Sure, if you actually read the smaller text, you’d see that the flyer claims Carter is actually making it harder for veterans to get health care. If by some minuscule chance you read the even smaller text, you’d see that the flyer was paid for by the Texas Democratic Party.
Yes, that’s right. This is a Democratic piece.
NEWS FLASH: No one reads this crap (unless they happen to have a political blog). You have a few moments at best to make an impression. And, congratulations!! You did.
Gee, guys. Thanks for the help. I know this independent “attack ad” wasn’t coordinated with Hegar’s campaign but did you have to spend good money to make it look like you coordinated with Carter’s?