Gina Hinojosa Is Showing Democrats How to Run Against Republican Grifters

If Texas Democrats end their three-decade-long electoral losing streak this year, it will be because they have figured out new ways to “do” politics.

That’s been much noted with regard to this year’s US Senate contest in the state, where Democrat James Talarico has upended political calculations with a scripture-quoting, economic populist challenge to the state’s billionaire-based politics and the scandal-plagued Republican who exemplifies it. If Talarico defeats his Republican opponent Ken Paxton, the result could give the Democrats control of not just the Senate but—should their party win a US House majority—control of Congress for the last two years of Donald Trump’s second presidential term.

It would also be a breakthrough of historic consequence for Texas Democrats, who have not had a member of their party sitting in the Senate for 33 years—since appointed Democratic incumbent Robert Krueger was swept out of office after having won just 33 percent of the vote in a 1993 special election.

But the Senate race is not the only one in which Texas Democrats could experience a renewal that is of both state and national significance.

The last time that a Democrat was elected as governor of Texas, George Herbert Walker Bush was the president of the United States, Margaret Thatcher was finishing her tenure as prime minister of the United Kingdom, and Mikhail Gorbachev was the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The year was 1990, and the winner of the Texas gubernatorial race was Ann Richards, a sharp-tongued populist who upended conservatives on both sides of the political aisle.

Richards lost reelection to George W. Bush amid the Republican wave of 1994, and—despite ritual predictions that “this could be the year Texas turns blue,” no Democrat has come close to winning the governorship—or any statewide office—in three decades.

But, in a striking measure of sinking Republican fortunes this fall, Texas could actually turn blue in 2026—not just in the Senate contest but also in races for statehouse posts.

While Texas Democrats have had to live on hope for a long time, this year they have poll numbers, deep dissatisfaction with Republican governance, and an energized, diverse, and growing base of supporters on their side.

State Representative Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat from Austin, has narrowly led incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott—who has been in power since 2015 and was, until relatively recently, seen as a shoo-in for a fourth consecutive term—in several recent polls. The race is still very much “a toss-up,” but the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project survey points to “a clear partisan enthusiasm gap favoring Democrats.” And this week, the editorial boards of the state’s largest newspapers have endorsed Hinojosa. The San Antonio Express-News did so with a jab at the incumbent, declaring, “After 12 years in office, it’s clear that Abbott has come to take Texans’ votes for granted. It’s time for someone who will alter that trajectory in a positive, inclusive way. To meet that challenge, we recommend Hinojosa for governor.” The Houston Chronicle hailed Hinojosa as “smart, pragmatic and resourceful,” while the Austin American-Statesman announced, “Texans deserve a leader who will work to uplift the many, not the few. Hinojosa is ready to bring that change.”

That’s high praise for a candidate who began her campaign against Abbott, the most entrenched major Republican official in Texas history, as an uphill climb. The Republican has held statewide office for almost 24 consecutive years, first as attorney general and then as governor. He enjoys universal name recognition and massive support from powerful donors tied to corporate special interests and the state’s many billionaires. But Hinojosa built her campaign around a compelling message. The American Dream, she suggested, was slipping away from Texans. “As Governor, I’ll put it back on the table with a short, simple agenda, because the plan should be as plain as the promise: save Texas schools, put money in your pocket, and end the Greg Abbott Corruption Tax.”

Most Texans, like most Americans, may be new to the idea of a “corruption tax.” But it is a notion that Democrats would be wise to add to their lexicon—especially in the way that Hinojosa’s camp describes it. “[The] Greg Abbott Corruption Tax has taken taxpayer dollars from hardworking Texans while they struggle with their neighborhood schools closing, data centers flooding their communities, and the rising costs of gas, groceries, utilities, and healthcare,” argues the campaign. Specifically, explains Hinojosa, Abbott’s decades of campaign fundraising from millionaires and billionaires have cost Texas taxpayers a fortune.

Billboards paid for by the Hinojosa campaign have reminded voters that, for instance:

• “Greg Abbott received $876,000 from corporate donors who have received more that $1billion in no-bid contracts.”
• “Greg Abbott received $12 million from a Pennsylvania, after passing the school voucher scam.”
• “Greg Abbott received $150,000 from data center companies that are raking in massive tax giveaways.”

To keep the corruption issue front and center in the minds of voters, Hinojosa proposes to direct the legislature to approve a one-time “Corruption Tax Refund” that would send $1,500 checks to every household in the state. “Greg Abbott has hoarded $27 billion in taxpayer money into the Rainy Day Fund—money that belongs to Texans—while families struggle to pay their bills,” explains the Hinojosa campaign. “No Texas politician has ever hoarded taxpayer dollars like this—and it’s time Texans get that money back. It is fiscally irresponsible for the government—that money should be working in our economy.”

Hinojosa’s camp says, “The Rainy Day Fund needs about a $10 billion balance to be fiscally responsible according to experts, so Gina will direct the legislature to return the other $17 billion to Texas families in the form of a $1,500 refund—because Gina knows your money should work for you, not sit idle in Austin.”

The refund proposal is part of a broader populist platform, in which Hinojosa proposes to “save public schools” by addressing one of the issues highlighted on those “Greg Abbott Corruption Tax” billboards. Focusing on the Republican governor’s support for school vouchers, Hinojosa’s campaign argues that

Greg Abbott’s voucher scam was never about helping kids—it’s a payout for the privileged. After accepting more than $12 million in donations from out-of-state billionaire Jeff Yass, Abbott funneled $1 billion into the voucher program, redirecting money from 5.5 million public school kids to instead serve his rich donors. Today, 70% of voucher applications are from families who already have their kids in private school, and private schools retain the power to keep everyone else out.”

What Hinojosa is doing is transformational for Texas, and for the rest of the United States. She is not just making an issue of corruption. She is showing Democrats how to talk about it in ways that connect with voters. At the start of her campaign, she promised to take on Abbott by calling out “his failures and his grift.” It’s working.