Democrat Gina Hinojosa pulls off an upset in Texas to become the first Hispanic woman governor

The Democratic wave in these midterms has also taken down the governorship of Texas. Gina Hinojosa will become the first Hispanic woman to govern the state, long considered a Republican stronghold where the Democratic Party had not won statewide elections in more than three decades until this Tuesday.Hinojosa has defeated incumbent governor Greg Abbott with 52.8% of the vote to her rival’s 45.8%, with 86.7% of ballots counted, according to the AP.The daughter of a prominent Democratic politician in the state, Hinojosa was born and raised in border towns in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, a contested area in these midterms that has turned blue again after supporting Donald Trump in 2024. She graduated as an attorney and says she entered politics by accident after defending her son’s school when the state threatened to cut its funding. She won that fight and in 2015 became president of the Austin ISD school board. A year later she was elected state representative, a post she has held until now.It was also in 2015 that Greg Abbott became governor of Texas, a post he has held since as a staunch ally of Trumpism, winning election after election comfortably. That is why during the campaign this race did not seem competitive, but as election day approached, polls pointed to an increasingly tight contest. However, Abbott was always ahead in the polls. On the eve of the election, his lead was 2.5 points on average.But the growing momentum of her fellow Democrat James Talarico’s Senate campaign benefited Hinojosa, who campaigned alongside him across the state. In addition, Democratic figures rushed to fund her to give her an extra boost. Aware of her gains, she challenged Abbott to debates in several forums and showed up to face him, but the governor did not attend, as he had in previous campaigns.Her campaign slogan was “No te dejes,” in Spanish, which she translates to “Fight Back”, and she promises to address education issues that worry parents in the state, but above all she has pledged to fight the corruption she says was generated by Abbott. She has also opposed the expansion of data centers in Texas. She has offered to reduce property taxes, the cost of living, utilities and health care.The last time Democrats governed Texas was between 1991 and 1995, when Ann Richards was governor.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition