A Gina Hinojosa supporter built a sign on the back of his pickup truck which reads “A woman’s place is in the dome! Gina Hinojosa for Texas 2026.” The truck was parked outside a Hinojosa rally on Oct. 27, 2026 at the National Hall SPJST Lodge 92 in Lake Worth.
Rachel Royster
rroyster@star-telegram.com
Tarrant County is ground zero for a blue wave in Texas, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa said at a Tuesday night get-out-the-vote rally in Lake Worth.
In January, when Taylor Rehmet won the Texas Senate district that voted for President Donald Trump by 17 points in 2024, people thought it was a fluke, Hinojosa said.
“They thought it was a one-off,” Hinojosa told the Star-Telegram. “Then we started seeing Democrats winning all throughout the state, all throughout the year. And now what we’re seeing is polling numbers that show we are winning. It’s not because people are Team Democrat. It is because people are for change.”
A Tarrant County resident and Gina Hinojosa supporter raises a political sign reading “Tarrant County is ground zero” at a Hinojosa rally on Oct. 27, 2026 at the National Hall SPJST Lodge 92 in Lake Worth. Rachel Royster rroyster@star-telegram.com
Hinojosa’s rally at the National Hall SPJST Lodge 92 included two Republican voters who selected her on their midterm ballots this week.
Ashleigh Johnson, a mother of four in the Grapevine-Colleyville school district, said her values haven’t changed, the Republican Party has.
“I voted for Greg Abbott more than once,” Johnson said. “And in fact, until last Friday, in fact, I never voted blue, but I did just that.”
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who Hinojosa is running to unseat, and the Republican ticket have abandoned their base by passing school vouchers and stripping the public school system of resources, Johnson said.
Tim Buchanan, a legendary Aledo football head coach and Republican, also addressed Hinojosa’s roughly 250-person crowd Tuesday night. It was the first rally other than a pep rally he’d ever spoken at, he said.
Earlier this month, Hinojosa announced Buchanan’s endorsement of her on social media. Since then, Buchanan said he has received boxes and boxes of real estate brochures and magazines for blue states.
“They’re trying to tell me I need to move to a blue state,” Buchanan said. “Well, I got news for you. Gina Hinojosa is fixing to turn this [darn] state blue.”
All across the state, Hinojosa said Texans are voting in a way that has never been seen before, breaking turnout records.
“People who have never voted are showing up, and they are voting early, and they are here today because they want change,” Hinojosa told the crowd. “And let me tell you, on Nov. 3, we will end Greg Abbott’s 30-year political career.”
Gina Hinojosa spoke to a crowd of about 250 encouraging them to get out and vote at her rally on Oct. 27, 2026 at the National Hall SPJST Lodge 92 in Lake Worth. Rachel Royster rroyster@star-telegram.com
Hinojosa’s message surrounds reviving the public education system by firing Abbott-appointed Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, pausing the A through F grading system for schools and returning districts taken over by the state like the Fort Worth and Lake Worth school districts back to their communities.
There can be no American Dream without a strong public school system, Hinojosa argued.
To the educators in the crowd Tuesday night, Hinojosa said “help is on the way.” Tarrant County and Texas just has to keep on voting, she said.
This story was originally published October 27, 2026 at 10:52 PM.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.