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Gina Hinojosa May Throw Hat in Ring
for Texas Governor at Event in Valley
Capitol Inside
October 8, 2025
Democratic State Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin appears poised to launch a highly-anticipated race for governor with a "special announcement" a week from now at a Blue Texas Rally in her hometown of Brownsville on the southeastern tip of the nation's southern border.
"Looking ahead to 2026, we’re bringing Texans together to fight back against Republican extremism and build a state that works for all Texans," according to a post Wednesday morning on the web site Mobilize. "At this event, you’ll hear how you can get involved, take action, and be part of our movement to turn Texas blue."
Capitol Inside
revealed on September 22 that Hinojosa was eyeing a bid for the job that Republican Governor Greg Abbott is seeking again in 2026. Most signs at the time pointed to a Hinojosa gubernatorial quest as a contender for the Democrats in the primary election on March 1. She had been expected to announce her plans for the race later that week based on speculation at the Texas Capitol.
But Andrew White - the son of former Texas Governor Mark White - entered the fight for the state's top job two days later and received substantial publicity as the first candidate in the race who's not a political unknown. Hinojosa may have decided to hold off on an announcement until the attention that White had reaped had run its course.
White is attempting a comeback for an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2018 when he lost to former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez in a primary runoff election. Valdez defeated White by almost 7 points with 53 percent of the vote in the runoff. Abbott beat Valdez by 13 points in the general election with nearly 56 percent of the vote - the highest share for a Republican in a statewide contest here that fall.
Hinojosa's family has been deeply involved in politics as well. The lawmaker's father - Gilberto Hinojosa - led the Texas Democratic Party for a dozen years as the state chairman before resigning in 2024. The elder Hinojosa served for almost that long as the county judge in Cameron County.
White's father was the Texas governor for four years in the 1980s after stints as the attorney general and secretary of state. After ousting Bill Clements in 1982, the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction got revenge four years later when he unseated his nemesis White. Ann Richards reclaimed the governor's office for the Democrats in 1990 when Mark White ran again and failed to make a primary runoff in his third and final bid for the post. Richards is the last Democrat to serve as the governor in the Lone Star State.
Hinojosa would become the third woman governor in Texas history if she emerged as the Democratic nominee and pulled off an upset for the ages with a victory over Abbott in the general election in 2026. But Hinojosa would be a long-shot best against an incumbent who appears all but invincible as a product of a record war chest and the fame he's acquired as the top leader in the nation's second largest state.
Hinojosa is a 51-year-old attorney who's in the midst of her fifth term in the Texas Legislature's lower chamber. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and attended law school at George Washington University in the nation's capital.
more to come ...
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