Gina Hinojosa Vows to Fight Corruption
with Bid to Give GOP Governor the Boot
Capitol Inside October 15, 2025
Democratic State Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin kicked off a campaign for the job that Governor Greg Abbott is seeking again when she portrayed the Republican incumbent on Wednesday as a puppet who's for sale to the highest bidders and hell-bent on defunding the public schools.
"The challenge now is that Abbott's corruption runs deep, and the billionaires he works for will not stop until they get what they want,"
the 51-year-old lawmaker said in a video announcing her bid for the state's highest political office in 2026. "So long as we have a governor who can be bought, we won't have the Texas that we deserve."
Hinojosa joined Andrew White in the Democratic primary competition for the nomination for governor and a shot next fall at an incumbent who's gunning for a record fourth term and historically loaded with $86 million in the campaign bank at the end of June.
"Doc" Pete Chambers, a former Green Beret who's a physician in Wimberly, is the only other Republican in the field of contenders in the gubernatorial contest. More than a dozen other Texans have designated treasurers for potential runs for governor but haven't entered the ring up to now.
While Abbott is a prohibitive favorite to keep the post in the general election a year from now, Hinojosa will expect to be the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination as the candidate who will have the party machinery behind her and boasts experience in the trenches that White cannot match.
White's father - Mark White - served as the secretary of state and attorney general before a stint for four years as the governor here in the 1980s. After ousting incumbent Bill Clements in 1982, White was unseated by the Republican in a rematch four years later. The elder White finished third in the Democratic primary sweepstakes for governor in 1990 in a race that Ann Richards eventually won.
Hinojosa has substantial pedigree as well as the daughter of Gilberto Hinojosa - a former Cameron County judge who led the Texas Democratic Party for a dozen years as the state chair. The elder Hinojosa appeared to be on shaky terms with successor Kendall Scudder when he stepped down as the TDP chairman after a dispute on whether an excessive focus on transgender issues undermined the party's slate in 2024.
Hinojosa the lawmaker will hope to help the Democrats stop the bleeding from an exodus of voters to the GOP in South Texas and border areas. Democrats here are confident that they will fare better without President Donald Trump on the ballot for the Republicans in 2026.
But the Democrats haven't won statewide in Texas since 1994 - and Abbott will be toughest one on the GOP ticket here next year to beat. Another Austin representative - James Talarico - may have the best chance on paper to snap the losing streak for the minority party as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2026.
Talarico is dueling former congressional member Colin Allred of Dallas for the Democratic nomination in the fight for the position that Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn wants to keep in the midst of a primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Hinojosa slammed the incumbent in the introductory campaign commercial for taking $6 million from an out-of-state donor before he escalated a push for private school vouchers. She was referring to Pennsylvania resident Jeff Yass.
“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 the 2-minute campaign commercial. “That’s who Greg Abbott works for. I’m running for governor to work for you.”
Hinojosa gave a preview of a potential slogan in the video when she touts her experience as an Austin school board member who waged a winning fight to keep her son's school from being closed.
