Democrat Gina Hinojosa Defeats Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas, First Democratic Governor Win Since 1990

Gina Hinojosa is the next governor of Texas.

The Democratic state representative from Austin defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in a race the networks and the Associated Press called Tuesday night. Abbott conceded in a speech to supporters. Vote counting continued after the call, and final margins have not been certified.

The last Democrat to win the office was Ann Richards in 1990. Republicans have held it since George W. Bush took over in January 1995, through Bush, Rick Perry and Abbott. Hinojosa will be the state's first Hispanic governor and its third woman governor, after Richards and Miriam Ferguson.

The numbers

Early returns put Hinojosa well ahead. NBC News had her at over 56 percent to Abbott's 42 percent with roughly 70 percent of the vote counted. Newsweek reported her at 54 percent.

That is a long way from where the race stood in the summer. A University of Texas at Austin poll released in August had Abbott ahead 45% to 40%, with 10% undecided. Newsweek reported Abbott leading by 6 to 7 points over the summer before Hinojosa gained ground in the final weeks.

Money did not decide it. The AP put Abbott's campaign spending at $180 million since last year. The Texas Tribune, citing campaign finance filings, counted $281 million from Abbott against $36.8 million from Hinojosa between her Oct. 15, 2025 launch and the latest reporting period. The measures differ. The gap is enormous on either one.

According to Calvin Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University, Abbott began 2026 with a $105 million war chest to Hinojosa's $3 million or $4 million, and had near-total name recognition. "Abbott did nothing in particular wrong, except to be a visible member of Team Red, and it may cost him," Jillson told Newsweek.

What the campaign was about

Hinojosa ran on affordability, public schools and data centers. She opposed Abbott's school voucher program, called for higher teacher pay and changes to standardized testing, and pledged to fire the state's education commissioner as one of her first acts.

Data centers hurt Abbott with a group he normally wins. Texas has more than 500 of them, second most in the country, and rural voters pushed back. Abbott ordered the state in September to stop approving new data center permits while an audit examines their effect on the electric grid.

Hinojosa questioned whether he meant it. She joined other Democrats in calling for a moratorium until lawmakers write added protections for residents. Her ads accused Abbott of "doing the bidding of his billionaire donors" and "selling out Texas."

She also ran bilingual TV ads and held town halls aimed at Latino voters, who make up about a third of the state's electorate.

The wider Texas results

Hinojosa was not the only Texas Democrat to win. James Talarico beat Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had Trump's endorsement, in the U.S. Senate race. TIME reported it as the first statewide Democratic win in Texas in more than 30 years, and the networks called it before Hinojosa's race. NBC noted that GOP nominees for several offices faced personal scandals and criticism this cycle.

President Trump blamed Abbott himself. "If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn't become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn't have lost," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He went back to his original formula, and it wasn't pretty!" Trump did not say which positions he meant. Jillson's assessment points elsewhere: the national party label, not any single Abbott decision.

ABC News also projected Democrats winning control of both the House and Senate nationally on Tuesday night.

What Abbott and Hinojosa said

Abbott conceded while votes were still being counted. "There are still votes to be counted, but mathematically, we are not going to be able to win this election," he said. He added that he told Hinojosa he would help her team with the transition and thanked supporters for 12 years as governor.

Hinojosa, 52, spent years as a civil rights and labor lawyer. She told supporters in Austin that voters had delivered "a mandate for change." In a message to Texans, she said: "There will be no special set of rules for the wealthy and powerful. No looking the other way when someone in my own party does wrong."

She also said the voters' trust "is not a blank check."

The limits of the office

Hinojosa takes office in January 2027. Her veto power is real, but her agenda is another matter.

The AP notes that Republicans still hold a majority in the Texas statehouse, which over the last decade passed one of the nation's strictest abortion laws and increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement. Whether she can move education changes, a data center moratorium or any rollback of those laws through that majority is the open question. The Republican legislators she will have to negotiate with have not said how they plan to deal with her.