Rosie O’Donnell sends shout out — and cash — to a North Texas congressional candidate

Rosie O’Donnell knows how to draw attention.

And with one retweet over the weekend, she put the spotlight on Jana Sanchez, a Waxahachie woman who plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, on the ballot next year.

O’Donnell — a famous comedian and actress who has 1 million followers on Twitter — retweeted a note seeking donations for Sanchez, a 52-year-old Democrat and communications consultant who is making her first bid for office.

The message asked for people to help to “flip TX-06 seat in U.S. Congress.”

Then O’Donnell went one step further and personally donated $1,000 to the campaign.

“This was a dream of mine,” Sanchez said. “Whenever she tweets you, you raise a lot of money.”

After O’Donnell’s retweet, Sanchez raised about $2,500 from other donors. Add that to O’Donnell’s $1,000 donation and other money raised and Sanchez said she has raised about $32,000 in the first three months of her campaign.

Barton has represented District 6, which includes most of Arlington and Mansfield and all of Ellis and Navarro counties, since 1985. The first day to file to be on the 2018 ballot is Nov. 11.

Sanchez — who describes herself as a centrist Democrat who is pro guns and term limits — said she’s ready to file.

“I did not sleep on Nov. 8, but I sure as hell woke up Nov. 9,” she said as to why she’s running for this office. “I have a fear for the Constitution and Democracy.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2017 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Rosie O’Donnell sends shout out — and cash — to a North Texas congressional candidate."