Gina Hinojosa says there's "deep disappointment" in both parties

Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic challenger for Texas governor, identified corruption as the central theme of her campaign during a town hall meeting held in Cypress, a Houston suburb, roughly three weeks before the election. The 52-year-old state representative accused incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott of systematically favoring wealthy donors with public resources. Speaking to a group of educators and their allies, Hinojosa described Abbott as corrupt, alleging that he awarded one billion dollars in no-bid contracts to supporters. She stated that Abbott waived competitive bidding laws monthly starting in 2020. The candidate further claimed that Abbott accepted twelve million dollars in campaign contributions from an out-of-state billionaire associated with school vouchers and subsequently passed legislation providing annual subsidies worth one billion dollars for private schools. During the winter storm Uri, which caused widespread power failures and hundreds of deaths, Hinojosa alleged that Abbott permitted energy companies to generate record profits through price surges. She noted that Abbott later received large campaign checks from the chief executive officer of the company that benefited most from that surge. In Austin, Hinojosa observed that legislative votes involving significant financial implications were primarily driven by moneyed interests donating to Abbott. She characterized this dynamic as a corruption tax paid by all taxpayers, citing examples such as donors receiving contracts to build National Guard barracks and staff border migrant processing centers. Ratepayers, she argued, bore the cost of grid repairs following the storm, while regular residents faced higher property taxes due to incentives granted to major corporations for building data centers. Hinojosa appeared physically strained during the event, telling an aide she was suffering from her first migraine in years and had applied honey throat coat to her hands mistaking it for hand sanitizer. Despite these personal difficulties, she maintained a vigorous schedule, traveling across the state and appearing on national media to attract donors to a race previously considered unwinnable. Abbott had historically won elections by wide margins, possessing a nine-figure war chest. However, despite spending two hundred eighty-one million dollars, largely on attack advertisements, the incumbent remained in a tight contest. A recent poll showed Abbott leading Hinojosa fifty-two percent to forty-eight percent. In separate remarks on the television program Face the Nation, Hinojosa expressed deep disappointment in both political parties, describing the current system as broken. She proposed a post-partisan path forward, arguing that bipartisan anger exists regarding the condition of public schools. Hinojosa positioned her platform as populist rather than strictly Democratic, focusing on child healthcare access and reducing insurance premiums. She highlighted data centers as another area of shared concern, noting that rural and unincorporated communities face issues related to water usage, electricity costs, and property rights. She stated that rural Texans are being disadvantaged by these developments and require protection and representation. Hinojosa also mentioned a lawsuit filed to obtain emails between Abbott and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who has donated millions to Abbott’s campaign. Hinojosa said the public needed clarity on the nature of that relationship. Abbott’s press secretary, Eduardo Leal, responded in a written statement, asserting that Abbott is focused on improving education rankings, establishing data center regulations, eliminating sales tax incentives for data centers, and lowering family costs. Leal claimed that under Abbott’s leadership, public education funding reached an all-time high and average teacher pay increased by more than thirty percent. He criticized Hinojosa’s record and emphasized Abbott’s ongoing efforts to engage directly with voters. Hinojosa expressed confidence in her electoral prospects despite Texas having voted reliably for Republicans for over thirty years. She cited high turnout and enthusiasm among her supporters as positive indicators. As a civil rights and labor lawyer representing parts of Austin in the state house since 2017, Hinojosa would become the first woman and the first Democrat to hold the governorship in three decades if elected. Her political involvement began locally when she discovered her son’s elementary school faced closure, eventually leading to her role leading a school board in one of the state’s largest districts. Her father, Gilberto, served as the longtime state Democratic Party chair, and her sister, Xochitl, worked as a spokesperson for the national party committee.