As Texans inch toward the November general election, the gubernatorial race is shaping up to be one of the state’s most closely watched political contests.
Voters will decide whether to give incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott another term or elect a Democrat to the governor’s mansion for the first time in more than three decades.
For decades, Republicans have dominated statewide elections. The race remains an uphill climb for Democrats in the state, as no Democrat has won the Texas governorship since Ann Richards, who served from 1991 to 1995. Abbott has held the governor’s office since 2015, and a win in November would put him on track to become the longest-serving governor in Texas history.
As Texans face rising housing costs, utility bills, school funding concerns, and healthcare affordability, Hinojosa says voter frustration has created an opening in a state long viewed as politically out of reach for Democrats.
“We are almost in a tie with Greg Abbot at this point,” Hinojosa said in an interview with the Defender. “Everybody knows Greg Abbott, and that’s his problem, really. They’ve known him for 12 years, and they do not like him.”
A five-term Democratic lawmaker from Austin and former school board member, Hinojosa hopes to narrow the polling margin by November, persuading them that an alternative vision for Texas is possible.
While Abbott seeks a fourth term, entering the race with the advantages of name recognition and a political machine built over more than a decade in office, Hinojosa says polls indicate a close competition.
While a Texas Public Opinion Research poll says the governor’s race is within 5 points, 48% (Abbott) to 43% (Hinojosa), a University of Houston poll shows a 49%-42% margin in favor of Abbott.
“Our agenda is saving Texas schools, holding down our utility costs by making industry pay their fair share, and ensuring every Texas child has health insurance. That’s a popular agenda, not a democratic agenda. And in fact, I challenge Greg Abbott to be against any of those things.”
Gina Hinojosa, 2026 Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas
Why should anyone vote for Hinojosa?
When asked what weaknesses in Abbott’s campaign Democrats have failed to capitalize on, Hinojosa rattled off a list, which includes over 100 Texas schools shutting down, school districts operating on four-day weeks because they cannot afford five, high electricity rates, people without health insurance, including children, bankruptcies, and the city of Corpus Christi potentially becoming the first major American city to run out of water. All of this, she notes, while property taxes have risen.
“This is Greg Abbott’s record,” she said. “Connecting those facts with the lived experience that people are feeling in Texas, the struggle people are feeling, is essential to help remind people why they’re in the situation.”
Her top three policy priorities, she said, are saving Texas public schools, holding down utility costs by making industry pay its fair share, and ensuring every Texas child has affordable health care, including by reining in health insurance companies she says are denying critical care.
“We will ensure every Texas child has adequate, affordable healthcare. We can do that by expanding Medicaid and pulling down those federal funds to ensure every Texas child and we need to rein in the health insurance companies that are charging us more and making it harder to see the doctors we need and get the medication we need,” she said. “We need to ban bad faith denials and hold industry accountable.”
Public schools, in particular, have emerged as a defining issue in the race. Hinojosa frequently ties Abbott’s record to school closures, teacher shortages, and funding pressures, arguing Texas families are seeing the consequences in real time. She also criticizes policies she says have undermined traditional public education.
“The American dream that I was raised knowing is where if you work hard, you not just survive, but you thrive,” she said. “That American dream is on life support in Texas. There can be no American dream without public schools.”
Immigration and border policy, often a cornerstone of Abbott’s political messaging, represent another area where Hinojosa seeks contrast.
The Democratic nominee recently criticized Abbott over the state’s $11 billion spending on Operation Lone Star, arguing Texas should aggressively seek federal reimbursement for those funds. Hinojosa contends the money could instead be redirected toward economic relief for residents struggling with rising costs.
“What he did did not make us more safe,” she said, accusing Abbott of using border security as “a political prop.”
Rather than defending Operation Lone Star in its current form, Hinojosa says she would reevaluate spending priorities and shift investments toward local public safety needs and community resilience.
A message for Black Houston
Hinojosa said, “There is no electability without Black voters,” in Houston and Harris County, a community that will be central to any Democratic path to victory.
She framed Black voters not as a constituency to court late in the campaign but as central to its success, emphasizing outreach to Black leaders and civic organizations throughout Texas. During a recent stop in Houston, she met with Divine Nine leadership and community stakeholders to discuss priorities and expectations.
“That this is your campaign too,” she said of her message to Black Texans.
On Black homeownership, she zeroed in on the role of private equity, buying up single-family homes with cash and using rent-pricing algorithms in apartment complexes, as a driving force behind unaffordability.
On Black maternal mortality, Hinojosa noted that the Abbott administration stopped collecting data on disparities in maternal outcomes, a decision she called “cruel” and linked Texas’s extreme abortion restrictions directly to women’s deaths.
“Women are dying in Texas,” she said. “The vast majority of people do not support that kind of extreme consequence for doctors…that is not a popular position, and there is space there to save women’s lives.”
The grassroots
Greg Abbott is scared to run against me. pic.twitter.com/qRWySaG9ns
— Gina Hinojosa (@GinaHinojosaTX) June 5, 2026
Hinojosa, a South Texas native who has built her legislative career around education, framed herself as one of Abbott’s most committed opponents on school vouchers and public school funding. The fight, along with shedding light on other issues, is central to her closing argument.
“I’m not running to be the governor for Democrats,” she said. “I’m running to be the governor for the people of Texas. Our agenda is saving Texas schools, holding down our utility costs by making industry pay their fair share, and ensuring every Texas child has health insurance. That’s a popular agenda, not a democratic agenda. And in fact, I challenge Greg Abbott to be against any of those things.”
