# Gina Hinojosa thinks Texas is different this time > The Democratic gubernatorial candidate believes a convergence of issues, school closures, data centers, corruption, has created an opening to flip Texas blue for the first time in over thirty years. - Title: Gina Hinojosa thinks Texas is different this time | Shortify - Summary: The Democratic gubernatorial candidate believes a convergence of issues, school closures, data centers, corruption, has created an opening to flip Texas blue… - Keywords: gina hinojosa, greg abbott, texas governor race, texas democrats, public schools, data centers, immigration policy, operation lone star, james talarico, elon musk, texas politics, politics - Source: The New Yorker — https://newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/gina-hinojosa-thinks-texas-is-different-this-time - Author: David Remnick - Published: 2026-10-21T22:04:47.088+00:00 - Read time: 4 min - Topics: gina hinojosa, greg abbott, texas governor race, texas democrats, public schools, data centers, immigration policy, operation lone star, james talarico, elon musk, texas politics, politics ## A rare opening in Texas For the first time in decades, Democrats have a genuine chance to win statewide office in Texas. Gina Hinojosa is within striking distance of toppling Republican Governor Greg Abbott in the gubernatorial race. ## The last Democratic governor Hinojosa, fifty-two, would be Texas's first Democratic governor since Ann Richards left office more than three decades ago. Her father, Gilberto Hinojosa, was the former chairman of the state Democratic Party. ## A mother's path to politics Hinojosa ran for the school board in Austin to save her son's school when officials tried to shut it down.He was in kindergarten.That experience launched her political career and shaped her focus on education. ## Five terms in the House Before running for governor, Hinojosa served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives, where she spent most of that time in the minority. She also worked as a lawyer. ## Texas schools in crisis Over a hundred and fifty school districts operate at four days a week because they cannot afford five.Close to two hundred schools have shut down. ## The AI schools plan Abbott has a plan in Houston to convert a hundred public schools into AI schools modelled after a private-school program co-founded by MacKenzie Price, one of his biggest donors who has given him over a… ## The voucher fight Abbott passed a billion-dollar voucher program last year. He spent millions in rural primaries to unseat Republicans who voted with Democrats against vouchers. He successfully beat them and got pro-voucher candidates elected. ## Hinojosa on vouchers Hinojosa calls vouchers school selection, not school choice. The school decides who it accepts, not families. Evidence across the country shows vouchers cause learning loss on par with pandemic learning loss. > It's the school's choice, right? The school gets to decide who it accepts. ## Corruption and Elon Musk Hinojosa sued Abbott over his refusal to release emails with Elon Musk. Musk has given Abbott's campaign half a million dollars and received one point seven billion in property-tax breaks and tens of millions in… ## The broadband contract Over the summer, Hinojosa learned that Abbott intervened to redirect a hundred-million-dollar broadband contract to Elon Musk's business. Abbott has given nearly a billion dollars in no-bid contracts to his donors. ## Data centers as an issue Data centers have descended into rural Texas. The state has more data centers than any other state in the nation. This has created pushback, particularly from MAGA voters, giving Democrats an opening in rural areas. ## Project Matador In Amarillo, the world's largest data center, called Project Matador, is being built on state land.Former Governor Rick Perry and his son are the biggest investors. ## Trump voters in Texas The Latino vote has grown tremendously in Texas.Latinos voted for Trump last time.But Latinos are now angry about the high-cost economy and ICE raids.They want a candidate who is good for their pocketbooks. ## ICE violence in South Texas Two young men on their way to enlist in the Marines in South Texas were pulled over and beaten by ICE.Latinos who are undocumented have been killed by ICE in Texas. ## Operation Lone Star's cost Abbott's Operation Lone Star sent more than a hundred thousand migrants to sanctuary cities. Texas spent billions prosecuting immigrants for trespassing and detaining them. The vast majority were released back into the community. ## Reimbursement shortfall Texas applied for eleven billion in federal reimbursement for Operation Lone Star but spent far more. The state received a seven-billion-dollar check from the federal government. Much money went to no-bid contracts and Abbott's donors. ## Voter sentiment on immigration According to a new Marist poll, sixty-one percent of likely Texas voters say undocumented immigrants should stay if they meet certain requirements.Thirty-five percent say they should leave. ## The stakes of redistricting Republicans are planning to redraw congressional maps next year now that the U.S.Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act.When maps are redrawn, Democrats will lose ten seats from Congress. ## A governor who will veto rigged maps Hinojosa says she will be a governor who will veto rigged maps, whether rigged for Republicans or Democrats. Without a Democratic governor in Texas, there will be no Democratic control of Congress when redistricting happens. > I will be that governor. ## Key takeaway Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, says economic populism and voter anger over school closures, data centers, and corruption give Democrats a genuine chance to win statewide office for the first time since Ann Richards left office over thirty years ago.