Abbott used much of his speech Thursday to contrast his record with Hinojosa\u2019s, portraying the Democratic nominee as too liberal for Texas and urging supporters to turn out in the final days of voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here today to make sure we do everything necessary to keep Texas, Texas,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/LT-ABBOTT-IN-ROSAS-CANTINA-09A.jpg\")
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott greets supporters at Rosa\u2019s Cantina during a reelection campaign stop in El Paso on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Luis Torres \/ El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n
Abbott pitches property tax cuts<\/p>\n
Abbott said Texas has added 2.6 million jobs since he became governor in 2015, citing Texas Workforce Commission data. He also touted previous voter-approved property tax relief measures while promising further reductions if he\u2019s reelected.<\/p>\n
The governor said he wants to eliminate school district property taxes on homeowners\u2019 primary residences, reduce the annual cap on increases in appraised home values from 10% to 3%, and require two-thirds voter approval for local property tax increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will completely eliminate using your homestead to fund public education,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cThat\u2019s not the responsibility of your homestead. That\u2019s the responsibility of the state of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public school advocates and educators have criticized Abbott for not better funding public schools during his years in office, including most recently with his support of vouchers that are redirecting state funds away from them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eliminating school district property taxes on homesteads would require a constitutional amendment approved by Texas voters. The proposal would shift billions of dollars in annual public education costs from property taxpayers to the state. Abbott has proposed using state revenue surpluses to cover those costs, although it\u2019s not clear how the state would sustain that funding in future years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Abbott said his proposed property tax reforms would save the average Texas homeowner more than $3,000 annually. He also touted proposals aimed at lowering homeowners, auto and health insurance costs.<\/p>\n
The governor also attacked Hinojosa\u2019s voting record, accusing her of supporting a state income tax, an inheritance tax and higher property taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cGina voted for an income tax in the state of Texas,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cThat should be disqualifying for anybody running for governor.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/LT-ABBOTT-IN-ROSAS-CANTINA-03.jpg\")
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott greets supporters at Rosa\u2019s Cantina during a campaign stop in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2026. The visit marked Abbott\u2019s first reelection campaign appearance in El Paso as he met with Republican supporters.<\/p>\n
Hinojosa voted against a 2019 constitutional amendment prohibiting a state income tax, but has said she doesn\u2019t support implementing a state income tax. Reversing the constitutional ban on a state income tax would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the state Legislature and approval by Texas voters.<\/p>\n
At her El Paso rally Wednesday, Hinojosa proposed sending $1,500 to every Texas household using money from the state\u2019s rainy day fund, suspending state taxes on gasoline and diesel, and increasing funding for public schools.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Gina Hinojosa targets Abbott\u2019s data center record,<\/a> <\/a>promises financial relief at El Paso rally<\/a><\/p>\n Abbott didn\u2019t discuss data centers at his rally Thursday. But the governor, who previously promoted Texas as a destination for data center investment, issued guidelines in August aimed at making data center developers pay for their own electricity infrastructure to avoid household utility bill increases, as well as limiting tax incentives for the facilities.<\/p>\n Immigration, public safety<\/p>\n Abbott also devoted a big chunk of his rally to immigration and border security, criticizing former President Joe Biden\u2019s policies and highlighting his administration\u2019s efforts to reduce unauthorized crossings along the Texas-Mexico border.<\/p>\n He praised state laws targeting human trafficking, restricting sanctuary cities and preventing foreign nationals and entities associated with China, Russia and Iran from buying land in Texas.<\/p>\n The governor accused Hinojosa of supporting Islamic religious law, citing a recommendation for Texans to vote for her by CAIR Action, the political affiliate of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights organization Abbott designated a foreign terrorist organization under Texas law in 2025. The organization has not received that designation from the federal government.<\/p>\n Hinojosa has rejected Abbott\u2019s accusation that she supports imposing Sharia law, saying in an interview with CNN this week that she supports American and Texas law.<\/p>\n Final push for El Paso voters<\/p>\n Near the end of his speech, Abbott urged supporters to download Abbott Impact, a campaign app designed to get more Texans to vote by connecting volunteers with friends, family members and neighbors who have not yet voted.<\/p>\n The app allows users to match their phone contacts with Texas\u2019 public voter records to see who has cast a ballot and send reminders to those who haven\u2019t \u2013 Abbott\u2019s effort to increase Republican turnout through personal outreach in the final days of the election.<\/p>\n Abbott remained at Rosa\u2019s Cantina after the rally as a line formed to take photos with supporters.<\/p>\n The governor has made several campaign visits to El Paso this year, seeking support in a county that has historically favored Democratic candidates. In the 2022 governor\u2019s race, El Paso Democrat Beto O\u2019Rourke carried 63% of the vote in El Paso County even as Abbott comfortably won reelection statewide.<\/p>\n Hinojosa has also made repeated visits to El Paso as her campaign seeks to mobilize Democratic voters in the final days of the election.<\/p>\n Abbott ended his speech Thursday by directing supporters to a nearby early voting location at the Shoppes at Solana about a mile north of Rosa\u2019s Cantina.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can roll over there in five minutes,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cAfter all, I am Governor Hot Wheels, right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Early voting ends Friday, Oct. 30, with Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday announced a state disaster declaration for El Paso County following damaging floods this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,288],"class_list":["post-481242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-elections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481242","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=481242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/LT-ABBOTT-IN-ROSAS-CANTINA-13.jpg\")
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott greets supporters at Rosa\u2019s Cantina during a campaign stop in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2026. The visit marked Abbott\u2019s first reelection campaign appearance in El Paso as he met with Republican supporters.<\/p>\n