Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa defeated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a three-term Republican, NBC News projects, wresting control of the red state’s governorship from Republicans for the first time since 1995.
Hinojosa’s projected victory, which will make her the state’s first Hispanic governor, comes after Abbott’s campaign cost him tens of millions of dollars. Abbott, who could have become Texas’ longest-serving governor if he had won, initially appeared poised to win another term in what has been a ruby red state for decades.
But changing demographics and a steadily deteriorating political environment for Republicans across the country and in Texas, where GOP candidates for multiple offices have faced personal scandals and criticism, have also taken a toll on Abbott.
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Hinojosa, who was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2016. Before becoming a lawmaker, she was a civil rights and labor attorney.
Education has been a pillar of his political career, with Hinojosa crediting work to prevent his son’s elementary school from closing due to state budget cuts as inspiration for running for office. Education funding and reform have been major issues in her campaign, as she promised over the summer that one of her first actions as governor would be to fire the state’s education commissioner, citing declining student performance across Texas.
She also criticized Abbott over data centers, a major problem across the state, including in rural areas. Although Abbott has enjoyed reliable support from rural voters in previous elections, he has faced friction with the voting bloc this cycle because of his past support for data centers. Texas is home to more than 500 data centers to date, making it the second state with the most data centers in the country.
Abbott has given up some of its support for data center development; he ordered the state to stop approving data center permits in September while an audit was conducted into the effect of data centers on the Texas power grid.
Hinojosa charged in ads that Abbott was “doing the bidding of his billionaire donors” and “selling out Texas” by supporting data center construction.
Hinojosa, who speaks fluent Spanish, has also been in contact with Latino voters, who make up about a third of the state’s electorate, throughout the campaign, both by airing bilingual television ads and holding town hall meetings in Spanish.
Abbott, meanwhile, criticized Hinojosa for being “radical.” He used campaign ads to target her past support for transgender female athletes and gender-affirming care for minors, calling her “Gender Bender Gina.”
“They want to run an entire campaign saying I’m too woke. I plan to run an entire campaign focused on the fact that working people are too broke,” she responded in one ad. “That’s the difference. My name is Gina Hinojosa. My pronouns are mom, Texan and soon to be governor.”
Voters have never witnessed a single debate between Hinojosa and Abbott.
Hinojosa criticized Abbott for not responding to debate invitations, ultimately hosting a debate outside the governor’s mansion in mid-October.
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