Air Force veteran Mary Jennings “MJ” Hegar announced Thursday she would challenge Republican Rep. John Carter in Texas’ deep-red 31st Congressional District.

Hegar told the Texas Tribune that she saw “a threat to our Constitution, our democracy … and I feel compelled to do something more about it.”

In 2009, during one of her tours of Afghanistan as a search-and-rescue pilot, Hegar saved three of her passengers after her helicopter was shot down by the Taliban, which earned her a Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device and a Purple Heart.

She since became an advocate for allowing women to participate in ground combat missions and is an executive coach and consultant in Round Rock.

She wrote about her fight in Afghanistan and the fight for military women to earn credit for their efforts in her book “Shoot Like a Girl,” which Sen. John McCain called “a must-read about an American patriot whose courage and determination will have a lasting impact on the future of our Armed Forces and the nation.”