2026 Texas gubernatorial election

Hinojosa says Abbott has vastly outspent her on paid communications, yet she has shown she need not match him dollar for dollar.

“Craig Abbott spent $80 million in paid communications in this campaign. I've spent seven”

Pod Save America: Trump Plans to Shove What Where? (Oct 6, 2026) · Listen from 1:17:08

Hinojosa cites a 31-point swing in a Tarrant County state Senate special election as evidence Democrats are already winning in Texas.

“where we swung a state Senate seat in the county that's supposed to be the most Republican county in the country”

Pod Save America: Trump Plans to Shove What Where? (Oct 6, 2026) · Listen from 57:35

Hinojosa argues that matching Beto O'Rourke's 2018 Latino share would be enough for her to win.

“When I get 64% of the Latino vote, I win because there are more of us in the voting population than there were then”

Pod Save America: Trump Sabotages Trump Agenda (Jun 26, 2026) · Listen from 1:24:50

Hinojosa says polling shows her gaining name recognition and narrowing Abbott's lead.

“since the end of last year, my name ID has gone up 20 points. We went from nine points down to five points down”

Pod Save America: Trump Sabotages Trump Agenda (Jun 26, 2026) · Listen from 1:13:42

Pfeiffer argues Hinojosa is correctly running an aggressive, high-risk campaign because that is the only way a Democrat can win Texas's governorship.

“the only way that a Democrat is going to win the governorship in Texas is to run a very high variance strategy to take real risk”

Pod Save America: Choosin' Texas with Bobby Pulido (Sep 27, 2026) · Listen from 16:13

Vietor describes Hinojosa's strategy as winning around 60% of Latinos, dominating big urban counties, and peeling off independents and rural Republicans.

“her strategy is basically to win about 60% of the Latino vote, to blow it out in the five big urban counties”

Pod Save America: Choosin' Texas with Bobby Pulido (Sep 27, 2026) · Listen from 13:40