Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat from South Texas, is leaping into the race for governor. She introduced her marketing campaign on Wednesday, establishing what may turn out to be a marquee matchup in opposition to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2026.
“Our fight right now is against the billionaires and the corporations who are driving up prices, closing our neighborhood schools and cheating Texans out of basic healthcare,” Hinojosa says in a video launching her marketing campaign. “That’s who Greg Abbott works for. I’m running for governor to work for you.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
Hinojosa will formally kick off her marketing campaign in her hometown of Brownsville at a Blue Texas occasion—an intentional nod to the Decrease Rio Grande Valley, the place Democrats try to claw again floor after the current GOP good points amongst Latino voters. A Latina lawyer and former faculty board president, she’s positioning herself as a defender of public training and a foil to Abbott’s training agenda.
She’s becoming a member of an already crowded Democratic main area that features Andrew White, a Houston businessman and son of a former governor, rancher Bobby Cole, and Benjamin Flores, a Bay Metropolis council member. Whoever emerges will face steep odds. Abbott has greater than $87 million in his marketing campaign account and has gained three gubernatorial races by double digits.
In her launch video, Hinojosa leans closely on her roots within the Valley, invoking her grandmother’s phrase—“No te dejes,” or “don’t let them push you around”—as a rallying cry.
“Don’t mess with Texas moms,” she provides.
Her message is as a lot about training as it’s about taking over entrenched energy. Hinojosa, whose district covers central Austin, has spent practically a decade within the legislature making public faculties her signature problem. She beforehand led the Austin ISD faculty board and says she determined to run for governor after her son’s elementary faculty confronted potential closure due to state funds cuts.
That focus has put her squarely at odds with Abbott over personal faculty vouchers, which she calls a “scam.” Within the video, she contrasts her push to bolster faculty funding with Abbott’s pursuit of vouchers, which she argues would “devastate our schools.”
She additionally calls out Abbott for accepting $10 million from Pennsylvania megadonor Jeff Yass, one of many nation’s most outstanding voucher proponents.
“Abbott’s corruption runs deep. The billionaires he works for will not stop until they get what they want,” Hinojosa says. “As long as we have a governor that can be bought, we won’t have the Texas we deserve.”
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Her marketing campaign can also be highlighting her legislative document: securing practically $1 billion in federal funding for indigent well being care in Travis County, lowering standardized testing, and boosting instructor pay.
She additionally made headlines earlier this 12 months when she joined dozens of Democrats in leaving the state to stall GOP redistricting plans.
Abbott isn’t precisely cruising towards the final. His shut ties to President Donald Trump are already stirring authorized and political hassle. After Abbott tried to ship tons of of Texas Nationwide Guard members to Illinois at Trump’s request, U.S. District Choose April Perry slapped down the transfer with a short lived restraining order, calling it probably unconstitutional. A federal appeals court docket rapidly adopted by placing the deployment on ice.
Abbott’s broader document additionally provides Democrats lots to run in opposition to. This summer time alone, he signed two sweeping culture-war payments—one concentrating on transgender Texans with a so-called “bathroom bill,” one other limiting mail-order entry to abortion capsules—cementing the state’s function as a testing floor for hard-right laws.
He additionally pushed Republicans to aggressively gerrymander congressional maps forward of the midterms, efficiently eliminating 5 Democratic-held seats by a particular session.
Abbott’s marketing campaign is already making an attempt to border Hinojosa as too liberal for Texas.
“Time and again, Gina Hinojosa chooses woke, extreme ideologies over the safety and security of Texas families,” marketing campaign supervisor Kim Snyder says in a press release.
The duty forward for Hinojosa is daunting. No Democrat has gained statewide workplace in Texas since 1994. Trump carried the state by 13 factors in 2024, and Abbott’s political machine stays formidable.
Nonetheless, Democrats are banking on a aggressive midterm setting, with the state’s Senate race already shaping as much as be one other main battle.
Hinojosa might not have the cash or identify ID Abbott does—however she’s betting her message and her document on faculties will resonate.
