AUSTIN, Texas — Democrat Gina Hinojosa won election as governor of Texas on Tuesday, defeating Republican incumbent Greg Abbott.1,3,4,5,6
Hinojosa will become the first Democrat to hold the office since Ann Richards in the 1990s and the first Latina governor of Texas, a result that removes one of the country's most prominent Republican governors and a supporter of President Donald Trump, possibly accelerating the state's shift to an emerging battleground.1
The result was part of a strong night for Texas Democrats, with James Talarico winning election to the U.S. Senate over Republican Ken Paxton. Hinojosa, 52, has served as a state legislator from a liberal Austin district since 2017 and entered the governor's race last year with little money or name recognition at a time when better-known Democrats appeared reluctant to run.1,4
She ran a populist campaign centered on costs, corruption and opposition to artificial intelligence data centers, and she showed durability despite a wide spending gap. Billionaire Elon Musk spent tens of millions of dollars to back Republicans, and Abbott's campaign spent $180 million since last year in a race once viewed as a safe path to a fourth term for Abbott, who first took office in 2015 and had won each of his previous races by double digits.1
Just two years after Trump carried Texas by double digits, Hinojosa rode the tailwinds of Talarico's hard-charging Senate campaign, one of the nation's marquee races. "It never bothered me that they doubted me. It bothered me that they doubted us," Hinojosa told supporters at her victory party in Austin. "Texas, my faith in you never wavered."1
From the start, Hinojosa accused Abbott of favoring the wealthy over everyday people and failing to bring down costs. One of her earliest pledges was a one-time $1,500 payment to each of the state's nearly 32 million residents, which she called a "Corruption Tax Refund" and said would be paid from Texas' emergency savings fund.1
She also accused Abbott of allowing energy-intensive data centers to spread across the state as public opposition to the facilities grew. Abbott responded to that anger with a temporary moratorium on new data center approvals.1
Abbott said Hinojosa wanted to raise taxes and described her as a radical and a threat to Texans' way of life. Her past record became a centerpiece of Abbott's attacks: she had once served as vice chair of the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus and defended transgender rights.1
Hinojosa sought during the campaign to move away from the progressive label and avoid culture-war fights, presenting herself instead as a populist and running advertisements featuring Republican voters who said they would support her. "They want to run an entire campaign saying that I'm too woke," Hinojosa said in one spot. "I plan to spend an entire campaign focused on the fact that working people are too broke."1
Abbott conceded the race and addressed supporters after ABC News projected that Hinojosa would win. CBS News also projected Hinojosa's win over the three-term incumbent, as well as Talarico's defeat of Paxton, which CBS News described as the first Democratic Senate victory in Texas since 1988.4,5,7
In the Capitol, the change could affect policy in a state that over the last decade passed one of the nation's strictest abortion laws and increasingly aggressive immigration measures. Hinojosa's victory gives Democrats a veto, but Republicans still hold a majority in the statehouse, where the extent of her power will be tested. Democrats also won a majority of the nation's governorships, and Republicans depend on winning Texas in presidential election years to maintain a path to the White House.1,8
