In Brownsville, Texas last October, Gina Hinojosa announced she was running for governor of Texas.
Hinojosa is an attorney and state lawmaker, and at the time, few political pundits gave her candidacy much of a chance. After all, Republican Greg Abbott had already won three terms. He is looking for a fourth, which would put him on course to become the longest-serving governor in Texas history.
But since Hinojosa announced her candidacy, the polls have tightened, and suddenly a contest that once looked like a foregone conclusion looks considerably less certain.
If Hinojosa wins, she would be the first Democrat elected governor of Texas since Ann Richards in 1990.
Gina Hinojosa joined the Texas Standard to tell us about her policy priorities.
The Texas Standard also reached out to Gov. Greg Abbott to invite him on the show and have yet to hear back.
This interview has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: When you entered this race, a lot of folks, including more than a few Democrats, didn't think you could win. And now we're seeing polls suggesting something quite different. What do you think has changed?
Gina Hinojosa: What we've seen from the very beginning is that as Texans got to know who I am and what I'm about, they're with me.
So when I launched, my name ID was maybe 20% — maybe less, actually. And in this last year, we have crisscrossed the state, we've got ads, we're doing social media, and we've reached a lot more Texans.
You've made a central theme of your campaign an argument that Texas government has become too responsive to wealthy donors, corporate interests. But as you're no doubt aware, Texas has long prided itself on being business-friendly.
I'm curious, where do you draw the line between encouraging investment and giving corporations what you would consider to be special treatment?
In 2026, it's just harder to make it than it was before Greg Abbott was governor. And I am hearing stories from Texans of a struggle like I've never heard before.
I tell this story because I think it is shocking, frankly, of Texans who are having to donate plasma as a second job two to three times a week to make ends meet. That's one example.
The stats also are that we have the most uninsured people, the most uninsured children, we have the most people disconnected from their electricity because they cannot afford to pay their bills, of any state. All this despite the fact that our property taxes have gone up 85% under Greg Abbott, and we just have nothing to show for it.
And so we're at this point paying into a system, frankly, that is working against us. What I have seen 10 years in the Texas House is that most of the legislation that is impactful — that is, big-dollar legislation — is pushed by moneyed interests. And we just got to flip the script on that. We need a governor who works for the people of Texas.
Is there a major business incentive you would eliminate?
I do think we should wipe clean corporate welfare in this state. I think that we can significantly reduce property taxes by doing away with that.
Let's take Elon Musk, who after he gave Greg Abbott a half a million dollars, got $1.7 billion in property tax breaks, got a $100 million broadband contract redirected to him, to his company after his office intervened with a broadband office.
We just heard recently that the Parks and Wildlife Agency, their board has plans two days after the election to sell our public beach, Boca Chica Beach, to Elon Musk. Those are just some examples of how Greg Abbott is doing the bidding of the world's only trillionaire.
And so look, things are just way out of whack. Texans are struggling in a big way, and these billionaires, now trillionaires, are getting wealthier off our taxpayer dollars. It's backwards.
You've proposed sending Texas households like $1,500 from the state savings — a one-time payment, not a permanent reduction in the cost of living. What does that accomplish over the long run and why is distributing that money preferable to investing it in, say, public education or, for that matter, property tax relief?
We've never had so much in what is known as the Rainy Day Fund, but it is called the Economic Stabilization Fund. It has historically been at $10 billion. And so I would take it back down to that historic number, send the rest to the people of Texas, which amounts to $1,500 for every household.
Economists that we've consulted say it's really irresponsible to be hoarding that money in a bank account. It should be working in the economy, and in a time when Texans are struggling so much, it is really a showing of good faith.
There is no trust in this government. We have to do something, and my priority as governor will be to restore trust that the government we are paying into is doing something to make our lives a little easier.
Let's assume you're elected, you're sworn into office. What are the first three things Gov. Abbott's done that you will undo?
Day one, I will fire Mike Morath, the Texas Education Agency commissioner. He has been there over 10 years.
Public education has been a priority of mine. It is why I ever ran for office when they were trying to shut down my son's school, Pease Elementary, in Austin. And we have been led down the wrong path under his leadership. I don't have anything against the man personally, but I do believe we need an educator in that position to get us back on track.
We have had a teacher exodus in this state. We have 150 school districts operating at four days a week. We have almost 200 schools shutting down all over the state.
I will pause the accountability system, speaking of public schools. The A through F accountability system is based on a deeply flawed STAAR test. There are lots of challenges with this test. It is created by the Texas Education Agency that then decides how to grade it after the kids have already taken the test.
We need an objective outside measure of our kids' performance. I still have a son in public school. I crave that accountability for his education, and all our kids' education.
There are over 2,000 appointments that the governor of Texas makes. So I will be making a lot of appointments to really redirect this state in a different direction.
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Suppose you win, but Republicans retain control of both chambers of the Legislature. That's a very real possibility.
You've spent several years fighting many of those same lawmakers over education and other issues. Are you conciliatory or do you go in fighting for change? How do you govern?
In 2026, to talk about politics as being on a left-right spectrum is out of touch with where the people of Texas are. It is not left-right. It is top-bottom. And the people in Texas want to know, are you going to deliver for me?
And that is pressure that is both on Democrats and Republicans. And so my agenda to secure the American dream by saving Texas public schools, putting money in your pocket, all those items on that agenda are not Democratic priorities. They are priorities for the people of Texas.
And in that way, the way we are successful is that there's no way the work can end on Nov. 4, right? It is just beginning.
We need the people Texas to weigh in, to organize and put pressure on elected leaders because the only way I've ever been able to do anything meaningful in the Texas Legislature … Is with people pushing from the outside, while we pull the levers that we have on the inside.
Because real change doesn't happen in the Capitol, it happens in our communities.
What do you say to convince someone who likes you, maybe an independent, maybe a Republican who's ready to consider someone else, who likes what you're saying on the campaign trail? What do you say to convince someone that you're not going to govern like the caricature of a Democrat?
I think my record demonstrates that. But also the polling shows independents are with me by double digits. And so are a significant amount of Republicans who have been publicly supporting me both because of my work on Texas public schools and because of my position on data centers.
These are issues that really are… There's bipartisan concern on both of these issues. The agenda is very much issue-oriented and it's about delivering.
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