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EL PASO, Tx., January 31, 2026: Candidate for Texas governor, Gina Hinojosa who is running for the Democratic Party nomination in the governor\u2019s race is in El Paso meeting with potential supporters. Hinojosa announced<\/a> her candidacy on October 15.<\/p>\n Hinojosa attended two events in El Paso yesterday. A public event was held this morning on the east side.<\/p>\n One of the events was at the Books are Gems bookstore<\/a>. The bookstore is a nonprofit promoting literacy among children. Hinojosa was at the bookstore yesterday afternoon. Her second event was in the evening at Mac\u2019s in downtown El Paso.<\/p>\n This morning Hinojosa attended a Meet & Greet with supporters at Gabriel\u2019s Restaurant and Bar on the east side of town.<\/p>\n State Representative Vince Perez (D-77) helped to organize the event yesterday and this morning\u2019s meet & greet. According to Perez, yesterday\u2019s event \u201cwas a small reception with elected officials.\u201d Today\u2019s event at Gabriel\u2019s was a larger public event to meet supporters.<\/p>\n Perez told us that \u201cGina is a product of the border region and understands communities like El Paso.\u201d He added that \u201cshe\u2019s been a fierce advocate for working families in Texas and a fighter against Republican policies like school vouchers, redistricting, and the inhumane detentions by ICE.\u201d Abbott has supported the Trump administration\u2019s efforts on border security, including controversial<\/a> Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. However, after the death of two U.S. citizens killed by ICE agents, Abbott urged that ICE should<\/a> \u201crecalibrate\u201d its immigration enforcement mission, while at the same time calling on the education commission to investigate<\/a> recent Austin ISD students protesting ICE.<\/p>\n Perez went one to add that \u201cHispanics are now the largest population group in Texas, and Gina Hinojosa is the worst nightmare scenario for Greg Abbott and Republicans \u2013 someone who is principled, unafraid to take on a fight, and has broad appeal among Texas voters, especially those who are being harmed under the Trump and Abbott economic policies that favor only the wealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n We asked Hinojosa campaign about her visit to El Paso.<\/p>\n Hinojosa Says Excited to Be In El Paso<\/p>\n In a written comment, Hinojosa said that \u201cI\u2019m so excited to be here in El Paso \u2013 the energy is incredible and everywhere I go, people are ready for change.\u201d She added that \u201cTexans are fed up with working more and more while getting less and less because they are paying the Greg Abbott Corruption Tax.\u201d Hinojosa wrote that her campaign is \u201cbuilding something powerful across this state, and we\u2019re going to keep that momentum going through November.\u201d<\/p>\n There are nine candidates on the Democratic Party primary ballot for governor, including Hinojosa. In addition to Hinojosa, the candidates are Patricia Abrego, Jose Navarro Balbuena, Chris Bell, Bobby Cole, Carlton W. Hart, Zach Vance, Angela Villescaz and Andrew White. The websites for the candidates are listed below.<\/p>\n The top contenders were Cole and Hinojosa.<\/p>\n White, the son of former Texas Governor Mark White dropped out of the race on January 5 and endorsed Hinojosa. Although Bell has not officially dropped out of the race, since January 16 his campaign website<\/a> has been archived and is no longer part of his campaign.<\/p>\n According to the latest campaign finance reports, Hinojosa has raised around $1 million in campaign funds and has spent $578,793.68. She reported having $661,125.19 left in campaign funds. Cole has reported accepting around $60,000 in campaign funds and spending $153,701.03 on his campaign. He reported having $27,465.15 left in his campaign. Zach Vance reported that he did not accept any campaign contributions and reported spending $4,018 on his campaign. Likewise, Angela Villescas reported no campaign contributions and reported spending $3,750 on her campaign.<\/p>\n Abrego, Balbuena, Hart and Vance did not report any contributions or expenses.<\/p>\n The latest campaign reports were due on January 15 for campaign contributions and expenses from July 1, 2025, through December 31. Any contributions and expenses this year will not be reported until the next reporting period.<\/p>\n Hinojosa was first elected to the Texas House in 2016, representing Austin\u2019s District 49. Hinojosa is the daughter<\/a> of former Texas Democratic Party chair, Gilberto Hinojosa. The elder Hinojosa was the state party chair from 2012 through November 8, 2024.<\/p>\n According to Texas Southern University December polling numbers, Hinojosa holds a significant lead over White among Texas Democratic voters. She polled at 41% to White\u2019s 5% and Bell\u2019s 6% of likely Texas voters polled between December 9 and December 11. Cole is polling at 3%.<\/p>\n An Emerson College poll published on January 15 shows that Hinojosa polls well among likely voters in a matchup between her and Greg Abbott. Hinojosa polled at 42.3% to Abbott\u2019s 50.2%. The same poll shows voters disapprove of the job Greg Abbott is doing, 47.4% to 47.1%. The Emerson poll surveyed voters on January 10th through the 12th.<\/p>\n Since April 2025, more voters disapprove of Abbott than approve of him as the Texas governor. Abbott\u2019s latest approval rating in October is 46% who disapproved of his job as governor.<\/p>\n Texas Governor Democratic Primary Candidates\u2019 Websites (only candidates with a website are shown, click on their name to visit the website)<\/p>\n Jose Navarro Balbuena<\/a> Cover picture credit: Gina Hinojosa campaign.<\/p>\n Like Us and Follow Us On Our Social Media!<\/p>\n Visited 13 times, 13 visit(s) today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Tx., January 31, 2026: Candidate for Texas governor, Gina Hinojosa who is running for the Democratic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5117,61016,61017,61018,30625,138,140,139,61019,3496,392,17838,61020,3498,61021,19062,61022],"class_list":{"0":"post-145697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-andrew-white","9":"tag-angela-villescaz","10":"tag-bobby-cole","11":"tag-carlton-hart","12":"tag-chris-bell","13":"tag-el-paso","14":"tag-el-paso-headlines","15":"tag-el-paso-news","16":"tag-gilberto-hinojosa","17":"tag-gina-hinojosa","18":"tag-greg-abbott","19":"tag-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-ice","20":"tag-jose-navarro-balbuena","21":"tag-mark-white","22":"tag-patricia-abrego","23":"tag-vince-perez","24":"tag-zach-vance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/civis_polls_1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hinojosa_gems-914x1024.png\")
Gina Hinojosa at Books and Gems, January 30, 2026, Special to the El Paso Herald Post.<\/p>\n
Bobby Cole<\/a>
Gina Hinojosa<\/a>
Zach Vance<\/a>
Angela Villescaz<\/a><\/p>\n