Sex Work Decriminalization Emerges as Texas Senate Race Issue

LOS ANGELES—Sex work decriminalization suddenly became in issue in a high-profile United States Senate race last week — even though neither candidate in the race supports it. Incumbent Texas Republican John Cornyn unleashed a $700,000 attack ad against his Democratic challenger, accusing her of links to a group that has called for sex work legalization.  The 68-year-old Cornyn, who was ranked as the ninth-most conservative member of the Senate last year by GovTrack, is running for a fourth term as a U.S. Senator from Texas. His opponent is MJ Hegar, a 44-year-old former Air Force pilot who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan, who has received both the Distinguished Flying Cross for Valor and Purple Heart medals. Though Cornyn remains favored to win the race, Hegar has run a strong campaign. Her $13.5 million third-quarter fundraising haul forced Cornyn, who has not released his own fundraising figures, to admit that she outpaced him.  Perhaps concerned that Hegar may be gaining on him with less than a month to go before election day, the incumbent released an ad campaign attacking her for links to the police reform organization Campaign Zero, a group that on its website lists “prostitution” alongside marijuana possession, spitting, jaywalking, playing loud music and other minor infractions and offenses that should not be the subject of police enforcement. “Her safety plan: defund police, legalize prostitution. MJ Hegar: too liberal for Texas,” the Cornyn ad states.  But Texas apparently is not yet ready for sex work decriminalization, because Hegar denied supporting the measure, calling the claims in Cornyn’s ad “a conspiracy theory. I’ve never said that I’m for that.” Hegar says that her support for the Campaign Zero proposals is based on statements posted by the group on its site in January, when “prostitution” was not yet listed among the minor offenses that the group says should be decriminalized or de-prioritized by police. But according to a Dallas Morning News report, the group had updated its site to include “prostitution” in June, when Hegar publicly stated that she supported the group’s public safety plan. In a televised debate last week, Cornyn also said that Hegar supports Campaign Zero, though he did not directly claim that she supports legal sex work. “I have not seen that as part of their platform, and maybe their platform has changed,” Hegar responded. Cornyn said in the debate that “legaliz(ing) things like prostitution” are “not Texas values.” By distancing herself from that claim, Hegar appeared to agree.  Photo By KVUE TV YouTube Screen Capture