(CNN) A combat veteran running for a congressional seat in Texas attributes her campaign ad's viral success to its resonance with her district.

Democrat MJ Hegar, a Purple Heart recipient running in Texas's 31st District, posted her campaign video, "Doors," to YouTube last Wednesday, and it has attracted more than 1.8 million views since it posted. The three-and-a-half-minute clip depicts her background as an Air Force combat search-and-rescue pilot who helped rescue passengers after her helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in 2009 as well as her role as a working mother.

"I think that part of the reason it's been so well-received is because the message resonates with people," Hegar told CNN's John Berman on "New Day" Monday. "A lot of people across the country feel like they have absent representation and that their voices are not being heard."

Hegar, one of a number of progressive women to score big in Southern primaries so far in 2018, believes her experience in the military is especially relevant to her constituents.

"(Republican incumbent Rep. John Carter) hasn't served and has failed the veterans in his district," she continued. "So I'm trying to let people know that I'm one of them. I'm representative of the district that I've grown up in my whole life."

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