AUSTIN, Texas — In an extraordinary political upset that shattered three decades of single-party Republican control,Democratic State Rep. Gina Hinojosa claimed victory in the Texas gubernatorial race, becoming the first Latina elected governor in state history.
Taking the stage before a roaring crowd of emotional supporters in Austin after outgoing Republican Governor Greg Abbott conceded in a 10 p.m. phone call, Hinojosa framed her win not merely as a party triumph, but as a seismic, populist movement.
"Everything is bigger in Texas, including the shock of this win," Hinojosa declared, addressing a crowd where tearful cheers broke out. "Who shocked the world tonight? With a Texas chip on our shoulder, we showed that anything is possible."
Defying overwhelming odds, heavily out-spent expectations, and a barrage of attack advertising, Hinojosa credited her victory to an unwavering faith in the working people of Texas.
"It never bothered me that they doubted me. It bothered me that they doubted us," she said, acknowledging Abbott’s call offering assistance during the upcoming executive transition. "I want to thank him and his family for their years of service to this great state."
Grounding her triumph in her personal roots, Hinojosa spoke of growing up in the Rio Grande Valley as the daughter of working-class families whose ethics define the state. And there were big jeers when she referenced her hometown of Brownsville and the RGV.
"No one would have imagined that one day, a little girl from the RGV would stand before you here as the next governor of the greatest state," she said.
Tracing her arc from a parent fighting to protect her local public school to serving on the Austin ISD school board, then in the Texas House of Representatives, and now to the Governor's Mansion, Hinojosa framed her rise as uniquely Texan:
"Only here, where no matter where you come from, no matter how humble your beginnings, your life can be bigger than your dreams."
Throughout her acceptance speech, Hinojosa returned to the core question that defined her yearlong campaign: whether Texas belongs to its working families or to billionaire mega-donors and corporate lobbies.
"Tonight, Texas, we answered — and we did not whisper," Hinojosa stated. "We answered loud enough for every billionaire, every lobbyist, and every moral politician in Austin: Texas belongs to us."
She pointed to broad, cross-coalition turnout spanning urban centers—where she noted voters overcame gerrymandered districts and closed polling sites—to small towns, agricultural communities, and border cities like McAllen and Corpus Christi.
Setting a firm line for the powerful interests comfortable in Austin, Hinojosa declared a distinct end to previous governing norms:
In her closing remarks, Hinojosa paid tribute to her grandmother, Grandmasa, invoking a phrase cherished across generations of Texas Latinas: "No te dejes"—know your worth and fight to defend it.
"A lot of Latinas in Texas grew up hearing those same words from their own mothers, their own abuelas," Hinojosa told the cheering crowd. "This year we lived them, and we changed this state. And this win belongs to you and to them."
With formal executive transitions commencing immediately, Hinojosa will take the official oath of office in Austin this January.
