With the nation gripped by the coronavirus pandemic and calls for social change, MJ Hegar and Royce West insist they are the candidates for the moment.

The runoff opponents are trying to convince Democratic voters that they’re the best choice to deliver on issues like health care and social change–and beat Republican incumbent John Cornyn in November.

Uncharacteristic of recent Democratic statewide primary races, the contest has featured bitter exchanges over race and ethics, signaling a potential fracture when a nominee emerges against Cornyn.

Hegar of Round Rock is a former Air Force helicopter pilot who says she’s the change agent needed in an environment dominated by lawyers.

West of Dallas is a longtime state senator with a record of tackling issues related to education, health care and criminal justice.

“From the economic and public health fallout from COVID-19 to horrific racial injustice and a broken immigration system, Texans across the state are excited to elect a servant leader and a get-sh**-done Texas mom with a proven track record of bringing together a broad coalition to accomplish the mission,” Hegar said.

“We’re getting more and more support across the state,” West said. “I’ve done the work in the Democratic Party to ready myself for this particular office. The voters see me as someone who has achieved results in the past and will continue to get things done.”

The July 14 runoff will test if voters are engaged or hindered by fears of catching COVID-19.

“I don’t think that anyone of them has communicated much past their bases of support,” said Matt Angle, a political strategist who directs the Democratic research group called the Lone Star Project.

Angle said West is strong in Dallas, Houston, and Fort Worth and anyplace where he can lure Black voters to the polls. Hegar is most powerful in central Texas and the suburban rings around major cities.

“It’s still a regional race,” Angle said.

Two months ago Ed Espinoza, the executive director of a liberal group called Progress Texas, gave Hegar the edge over West because of her pronounced fundraising advantage.

“It’s totally unpredictable,” Espinoza said. “It’s hard to predict which voters will show up at the polls.”

Clashes over experience, race and ethics

During the past week Hegar and West have had contentious exchanges related to qualifications and experience.

Hegar, 44, is a decorated combat veteran who has run only one campaign. That was in 2018, when she ran a close but unsuccessful race for Congress against Republican incumbent John Carter of Georgetown.

After the near miss, she opted to challenge Cornyn. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee backed Hegar in the 12-person primary, causing a backlash from some local Democrats who wanted the group to remain neutral.

West has questioned Hegar’s party credentials.

At the KVUE-TV Austin debate Monday, he criticized Hegar for voting in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, a vote she said she cast for former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. He also questioned why in 2011 Hegar gave a campaign contribution to Cornyn, now her potential opponent.

“People can believe the excuses about the Republican voting if they want to. I find it a bit thin,” West said in a news release.

Hegar’s rise to political prominence was due in part to her military experience. She received a Purple Heart and a Distinguished Flying Cross for her service.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of career politicians condescending to me that my 12 years in uniform bleeding for our constitution on foreign soil, five years working in health care or my experience as a mom of a 3- and a 5-year-old are not important enough to consider,” Hegar said during an explosive exchange with West during the KVUE debate.

Hegar then unloaded on West.

The bond attorney has done work for cities and school districts in Texas, which is legal. Personal financial disclosure reports show that in 2018 West collected over $1 million in legal fees.

“We have politicians frankly, like you Royce, who become millionaires in office, and have spent their time legislating in their own best interest instead of the interests of their constituents,” Hegar said at the debate.

West, 67, has been a lawyer since before entering politics. And he said his law firm has employed numerous workers and fellow lawyers. He chastised Hegar for calling him a rich lawyer that doesn’t have the interest of everyday Texans at heart.

He recently dropped an email to supporters about his origins as a lawyer in southern Dallas.

“So many people are conditioned to question the achievements of a minority person,” West wrote. “We as a nation are waking up to systemic racism and the filters or screens it creates through which we see others. I think Hegar’s screen needs a little cleaning.”

That prompted a pointed response from Hegar, who said she hoped West would stand with her against corruption.

“Far too often we have seen lifelong politicians use their office to benefit themselves, which is why I pointed out State Senator West’s refusal to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks, place his robust financial portfolio in a blind trust, and increase transparency and accountability in elected officials’ business dealings,” Hegar said in a statement. “Texans deserve to know that their elected leaders are looking out for the best interests of the people they represent, not their own stock portfolio and bottom lines.”

When Hegar slammed West for not agreeing to put his holdings in a blind trust, West said he hadn’t been asked to do so.

West has cast himself as the candidate with the background to tackle topical issues like criminal justice reform. He’s worked in civil rights law and in the Legislature has authored numerous bills on criminal justice reform.

“The question is whether you need a true Democrat in office, and whether you want someone at this moment in our history, where we really need to have someone that has the experience to deal with the issues of Washington, bring fresh ideas,” West said during the debate.

In her television ad that began running across Texas Tuesday, Hegar also said she is a social justice warrior and would fight against systemic racism and family separations at the border.

Titled “We Are Texas,” the commercial closes with the tattooed Hegar riding a motorcycle.

“We won’t let families be ripped apart at our border any longer,” she says in the ad. “We stand together against the systemic racism that’s hurt Black Americans for far too long.”

Defeating Cornyn

Many Democrats say Cornyn will lose to Hegar or West.

“Texas demographics, along with the horrific republican leadership this state has been subjected to, have shown voters across,” said Ira Bershad, president of the Frisco Democratic Club. “Texas that it’s time for a change.”

Hegar has pointed to her superior fundraising over West as a reason she should be trusted to take down Cornyn.

She has $1.6 million in the bank for the runoff against West. She’s raised about $6.5 million over the entire campaign.

Cornyn has more than $12 million in the bank, and will be ready to pelt the eventual Democratic nominee with a flurry of negative campaign ads.

“Because of the fundraising, MJ is in a strong position,” said Democratic strategist Lillian Salerno.

But Salerno added that West benefits because he has the support of most of the state’s Democratic Party establishment, including nearly all of the Democratic lawmakers in the Texas Legislature.

Last Thursday U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, joined the parade of elected officials backing West.

“If there’s a large election turnout, MJ Hegar will probably win,” Salerno said. “If there’s a small turnout and most of the voters are Democratic Party regulars, it’s going to be Royce West.”

Cornyn’s campaign aides have been active in the Democratic race. Hegar’s supporters say the incumbent would rather run against West because of Hegar’s strength with suburban women. Others say Cornyn would prefer West because of his ability to appeal to minority voters. The Cornyn campaign has gotten into spats with both candidates, including an instance when Cornyn’s campaign dubbed West “Restful Royce,” a moniker that the African American leader deemed offensive.

What’s more, President Donald Trump runs six percentage points better against Democrat Joe Biden than Cornyn does against either of his less well-known challengers.

Bershad said Democrats would unify against Cornyn, no matter who won the nomination.

“Donald Trump and John Cornyn succeeded once in fooling Texas that they would “drain the swamp,” he said. “Turns out, they are the swamp”.