Greg Abbott intends to run for reelection to a fourth term as Texas governor in 2026, which if served to completion would secure his spot in the history books as the longest-serving top executive in the Lone Star State. He’s at the height of his powers and is arguably in as strong a position as ever. And after three consecutive blowout electoral victories, Democrats haven’t exactly been lining up for the chance to take a shot at taking down Abbott.
But state Representative Gina Hinojosa, who has represented a deep-blue Austin district in the Texas House for most of Abbott’s 10-year tenure, has now thrown her hat in the ring with hopes of denying the governor his chance at history.
A former union lawyer and school board trustee for Austin ISD, Hinojosa has gained a reputation, since winning election to the House in 2016, as a strong advocate for public schools, a fierce opponent of school vouchers, and an outspoken critic of Abbott’s pay-to-play politics.
Hinojosa, 51, officially launched her campaign Wednesday with an event in Brownsville, where she grew up. Hinojosa hails from a South Texas political family, with her father being the former Cameron County judge and state Democratic party chairman. As a Latina with roots in the Rio Grande Valley, Hinojosa launched her campaign with the slogan “No te dejes”—fight back.
She also rolled out a list of dozens of endorsements from her Democratic colleagues in the Texas Legislature, U.S. Congress, and within local government.
Hinojosa joins a small Democratic primary field that includes an East Texas rancher and firefighter named Bobby Cole and a Houston businessman and 2018 gubernatorial also-ran named Andrew White, who is the son of a former Texas governor.
The Texas Observer spoke with Hinojosa Thursday about Abbott’s cronyism, her fight for public ed, and her take on the politics of this moment.
TO: Starting with the obvious, why are you running for governor?
I am running for governor because I know too much. We have a governor right now who works for the billionaire class and not the people of Texas. And I’m running to be a governor for Texans, for working families, for working Texans, for the school children of Texas. And it’s time our people had a voice.
Governor Greg Abbott has won election as governor by 20 points, 13 points, 11 points. He has a huge pile of campaign money, a well-oiled political machine, and all of the benefits of the entrenched incumbency. As he prepares to run for an unprecedented fourth term, how can he be beat at the ballot box?
Well, Justin, you’re the one who first exposed his corruption in your article about his no-bid contracts, and that the profile of what he is doing has only grown.
I think his reputation for corruption is permeating throughout the state. People know who he is now. He’s running for an unprecedented fourth term on a record of schools in crisis, housing more expensive, groceries more expensive, electricity utility rates are up. This is a record of failure, and he owns it. So I’ve never been afraid to call out his failures and his grift, and that will be a big part of my campaign as we talk to voters and put forward their needs and their concerns, and that’s what I’ve started to do here in South Texas.
Trump made significant inroads with voters in the Valley in 2024. As a Latina with roots in the Valley, what do you think you and other statewide Democratic candidates need to do to win back voters in South Texas and the Valley specifically?
I think Latino voters in the Valley want someone who speaks to their issues and want someone who they can identify with. They are in search of leadership that they can believe in and so spending time hearing their stories and centering their stories I think will be important in this race. That’s what I’m doing. That’s why I’ve kicked off in the Valley. And I mean we had Valley Republicans at our rally supporting me last night.
There is a pride in the hometown girl running that breaks through the partisanship and I will do my best to earn every vote I can down here.
Public education has been a key focus of your work as a legislator. In this past session, you had a front row seat watching Abbott ram through passage of the private school vouchers program. What did you learn from that?
I think that experience, the way that played out, demonstrated everything that is wrong with Greg Abbott’s leadership. He prioritizes the agenda of billionaires against the people of Texas. Texas public schools are part of our identity as Texans. They are enshrined in our constitution, and he has turned his back on them because he doesn’t care anymore. He’s been there too long. He stopped caring a long time ago.
It feels like we’ve reached, or at this point gone past, an inflection point with education in Texas. As governor, what would you do, particularly on school finance and public education, to reorient the system?
Yeah, it’s not hard. What we have to do is go back to basics, scrap all the vendor contracts, prioritize teacher pay so that we keep good teachers in the classroom. There’s been an exodus of Texas teachers in this state because they are overworked, disrespected, and underpaid. That needs to be turned around fast. Our schools are in crisis and everybody knows the best thing we can do is put a great teacher in the classroom. Our teachers are paid about 10,000 dollars below the national average and are forced to teach to a STAAR test that nobody wants. We need to de-emphasize standardized testing and put the teachers back in charge of teaching.
We’ve also seen Abbott systemically push the state more and more into the realm of immigration policy and directly challenging federal supremacy on that issue. What is your vision for matters of immigration policy in state government?
I think we really need to look to our border communities for guidance on immigration policy. And what I’m hearing in our border communities is, first, of course, all immigrants, all human beings need to be treated with dignity. And then secondly, those who are in our communities, have roots in our communities, are law-abiding, hardworking people need some kind of path to be here legally. They should not be rounded up and detained or deported, breaking up American families and devastating communities.
There’s a lot of concern that I’m hearing in the Valley about our communities and our families being torn apart by an immigration policy that does not distinguish between those who have roots here and those who are just coming. So I think most Texans would agree that we need to have different policies here. Of course secure the border yes, but the people who are here contributing to our communities are not a threat and in fact essential parts of our community.
Would you plan to fully unwind Operation Lone Star and pull back on how DPS and the National Guard are being dispatched to assist ICE in immigration roundups and enforcement?
Yeah, so right now DPS officers are being paid overtime to be on the border when border crossings are at record lows. That’s a waste of taxpayer dollars. I would rather see that money go into local community policing. And so yes, I think that is misappropriation of our taxpayer dollars. We could be spending much more wisely.
How do you plan to run this campaign and what lessons have you taken from past candidates?
Well, let me just say that I think this moment in time is different and an opportunity like we haven’t seen in a while. So this is the midterm after Trump. People are not happy. Everything is more expensive. The governor is underwater. We have a Senate race that is of national importance. We have congressional races that are of national importance. Latino voters are key to Democrats winning and Latino voters are looking for leadership that represents them and their interests. So I think because of all those things, we have a perfect storm of opportunity to have a real impact in the midterms.
I’ve never been one to temper my voice, my opinion about what is going on, and I think that Texas voters want truth and that is how I have always operated and how I intend to run this campaign—with a message of truth.
What would you say to conservatives, Republicans, independent voters who might be skeptical of voting for a proud progressive legislator from Austin?
My sense is that politics as usual is through. We’re done with it. Texans are done with it. And Texans are looking for an opportunity to do something different. Texans want change. My record is one of working with Democrats, Republicans, independents on issues that matter to all Texans. My priority has been our neighborhood public schools. I had a press conference during the session with MAGA moms because of our shared agenda for our schools. So I think any labels of progressive or conservative at this point are somewhat tired. People just want leaders who will work for them. And that’s who I am, and that’s who I will be as governor.
The other thing is that my approach happens to be one shared by our historical politics of Texas, which is populism—and that has its roots in Texas. And if I had to choose a label for my politics, it would be populism, but a real populism that prioritizes the needs of the people over corporate greed. And I think most Texans get that the problem we have in Texas right now is that we’re all being taken advantage of by big multinational corporations and we’re all struggling more because of it. And politicians have allowed that to happen.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The post ‘Failures and Grift’: Gina Hinojosa Wants to Stop Greg Abbott from Making History appeared first on The Texas Observer.
