Washington — Democratic Rep. Gina Hinojosa, who is running for Texas governor, said Sunday that “deep disappointment from both political parties” in the Lone Star State has prompted her to pursue a new path forward that she sees as “somewhat post-partisan.”
“No one wants politics as usual right now. Most of us see that it’s broken,” Hinojosa said on “Face the Nation””.
Hinojosa, 52, is running against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Hinojosa, a civil rights and labor attorney who has represented parts of Austin in the Texas House of Representatives since 2017, will be The first Democratic governor and the first woman to lead the state from the governor’s mansion in three decades. one Recent CBS News Poll Abbott leads Hinojosa 52% to 48%.
But in a state like Texas, where there are more registered Republican voters than Democrats, Hinojosa will need bipartisan support to win. She believes what she describes as deep bipartisan frustration has prompted Texans to forge “a new path forward.”
“There is bipartisan outrage over what Greg Abbott has done to our public schools,” she said. “Saving Texas public schools is a key part of my agenda, which is why this campaign is resonating with Texans.”
Hinojosa said her agenda is “not a Democratic agenda,” but a populist one aimed at delivering for Texans. She noted health care services for children and dealing with high insurance premiums as areas of focus.
She also pointed to data centers as an issue Texans can agree on. “No one is more vocal than MAGA in resisting data centers that are mostly moving into our unincorporated rural communities,” she said.
“This part of Texas is being exploited by these data centers, and so are the people of Texas and rural Texas,” she said. “There are serious water issues, power cost issues, property rights issues, so we need to access all of those issues and make sure Texans are protected and have a seat at the table first and foremost.”
Hinojosa’s comments came as he filed a lawsuit to obtain emails between Abbott and Elon Musk, who provided millions of dollars to Abbott’s campaign. “We need to know what’s going on,” she said, noting Abbott’s ties to Musk, the Texas-based CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
“Governor Abbott is committed to putting Texas on an education-first path by enacting data center guardrails, eliminating sales tax incentives for data centers, and lowering costs for hard-working Texas families,” Abbott’s press secretary Eduardo Leal told CBS News in a statement. “Under Governor Abbott’s leadership, Texas has reached an all-time high of public education teachers at more than 30 percent.
He added: “While Gina Hinojosa continues to evade her disastrous record, Governor Abbott will continue to criss-cross the state, speak directly to voters, and keep Texas alive.”
Although Texas has been a reliably red state for more than 30 years, Hinojosa expressed optimism about its chances in next week’s election.
“The turnout was great, the enthusiasm on our end was great, so we feel really good about where we are,” she said.