{"id":482385,"date":"2026-10-31T13:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T13:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/482385\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T13:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T13:18:12","slug":"abbott-hinojosa-make-closing-pitches-in-texas-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/482385\/","title":{"rendered":"Abbott, Hinojosa make closing pitches in Texas Governor’s race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> and his Democratic opponent, Gina Hinojosa<\/a>, are both campaigning hard in Bexar County in the final stretch of a tougher-than-expected Texas governor\u2019s race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Abbott, 68, has been reelected twice by wide margins since claiming the role in 2014. <\/p>\n

He more often spends the final stretch of an election rallying support for down-ballot Republicans, but speaking to a crowd of roughly 200 supporters at Texas Pride BBQ in Adkins on Wednesday, he was focused on his own race, which polls show him leading slightly<\/a> or within the margin of error.<\/p>\n

Abbott warned that Hinojosa would raise taxes and take Texas\u2019 border security back to the Biden era if she claimed the state\u2019s top leadership role, mentioning the state lawmaker by name no fewer than six times in his prepared remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody here, you know how crazy [James] Talarico<\/a> is, right?\u201d Abbott said, referring to Democrats\u2019 much better-known U.S. Senate candidate. \u201c\u2026 What will surprise you is this: my opponent, Gina Hinojosa, is to the far radical left of Talarico.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rallies voters and republican supporters during a campaign stop at Texas Pride Barbecue in Adkins, Texas on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite the turn of events in a race that bigger-name Democrats took a pass on last year.<\/p>\n

Most believe that a midterm election of a Republican\u2019s presidency offers their party\u2019s best chance at flipping a statewide office in Texas, yet when Democrats\u2019 biggest names huddled<\/a> to line up their nominees for a statewide ticket, none jumped at challenging the formidable Abbott.<\/p>\n

Outside the Las Palmas Library on the first day of early voting, Hinojosa\u2019s mom, Crisanta Guerra Lozano, said her daughter was fed up with corruption she\u2019d observed in the conservative-dominated Texas Legislature, where GOP megadonors pushed big changes to the state\u2019s public education system.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just wanted someone to run for the governor\u2019s position because, as a state representative, she could see all the things that [Abbott] was doing \u2014 the no-bid contracts and the way his donors were profiting,\u201d Guerra Lozano said. <\/p>\n

Hinojosa, 52, called all of the likely contenders \u2014 Beto O\u2019Rourke, former Texas Sen. Wendy Davis, and even former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg \u2014 before launching her campaign last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all said no,\u201d said Guerra Lozano. \u201cSo she told me, \u2018Well I just couldn\u2019t let Abbott run unopposed.’\u201d <\/p>\n

Hinojosa\u2019s focus on corruption<\/p>\n

Hinojosa is an attorney who grew up around politics from a young age. <\/p>\n

She was born in Brownsville, lived in D.C. while her parents were in law school, sat on her father\u2019s shoulders at Cesar Chavez marches when she was a girl, and later watched her dad run for judge and Texas Democratic Party chair.<\/p>\n

Despite that early exposure, Hinojosa\u2019s retail political skills were relatively untested before this race, and her wonky messages about corruption only now seem to be gaining steam in the final stretch. <\/p>\n

\"\"Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa rallies voters and Democratic supporters during a campaign stop at Hangar 9 on the South Side of San Antonio on Oct. 19, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

She went largely unrecognized as she campaigned alongside\u00a0then-U.S. Senate hopeful Jasmine Crockett in San Antonio in January \u2014 and her efforts to connect the GOP\u2019s immigration enforcement tactics to the private prison industry nearly put\u00a0people to sleep\u00a0at U.S. Rep.\u00a0Joaquin Castro\u2019s (D-San Antonio) press conference<\/a> outside City Hall later that same month.<\/p>\n

Now in recent weeks, however, Abbott has faced a barrage of criticism for unpopular policies linked to prominent GOP donors, and such messages are getting different reception.<\/p>\n

A watchdog group revealed this month that Texas continued issuing new data center permits<\/a> long after Abbott promised to stop them, while Texas Monthly reported that the state was gearing up to sell a popular state park to tech billionaire Elon Musk<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Abbott declined to rule out<\/a> the latter claim, while Musk is pouring millions of dollars into GOP campaigns for Texas Republicans, including the governor\u2019s reelection campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Voters and Democratic supporters rallied for Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa during a campaign stop at Hangar 9 on the South Side of San Antonio on Monday, October. 19, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

At an Oct. 19 rally at Brooks City Base, Hinojosa rattled off example after example from her time in the Texas Legislature to a crowd that waited hours to see her and seemed receptive to her criticisms of Abbott.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is selling off Texas for parts to his biggest donors, because Greg Abbott is the most corrupt governor in Texas history,\u201d Hinojosa told the crowd at Hangar 9. \u201cHe stopped fearing the voters of Texas because he has run every year, winning by double digits, never to receive a single poll that showed him losing \u2014 until now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott\u2019s final sprint<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop, Abbott has been racing across the state and burning through an incredible war chest<\/a> that had north of $100 million stockpiled at the beginning of the cycle.<\/p>\n

He told supporters at Texas Pride BBQ that Hinojosa\u2019s progressive record in the Texas House included calling for an income tax that Texas doesn\u2019t currently have and supporting voting to allow biological men to play women\u2019s sports. <\/p>\n

\u201cGina took it next level \u2014 and this is where it gets very dangerous \u2014 she voted to use your taxpayer money to fund public schools, for public schools to assist children in school to transition their sex behind their parents\u2019 backs,\u201d Abbott said. \u201c\u2026It just shows you how dangerous she would be if ever the levers of government were in her hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Republican voters and supporters chant \u201cfour more years\u201d during a rally for Texas Governor Greg Abbott at Texas Pride Barbecue in Adkins, Texas on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

He also sought to remind voters of the border issues on so many minds when the state supported President Donald Trump by roughly 14 points last election cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, it was just two years ago we were still living under the Joe Biden regime,\u201d Abbott told supporters. \u201cRemember what Joe Biden did to our border. Remember the havoc that Joe Biden caused in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message resonated with Republicans in attendance, who saw him out to chants of \u201cfour more years.\u201d One even called to make him governor \u201cpermanently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas doesn\u2019t have term limits on its governor, and if Abbott completes an unprecedented fourth four-year term, he\u2019ll be the longest-serving governor in the state\u2019s history. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s already held statewide office for roughly three decades, including stints on the Texas Supreme Court and as Texas Attorney General before his 12 years as governor. <\/p>\n

Abbott told attendees to take it \u201cone step at a time,\u201d and start with casting an early vote at the nearby Saint Hedwig City Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is two miles away. I can roll over there in like 10 or 15 minutes. After all, I am Governor Hot Wheels, right?\u201d Abbott said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to do your part to make sure we keep Texas red. And when you do that, Texas is going to be the best state in the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott was joined by exiting state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio) and the GOP nominee to succeed him, Jorge Borrego<\/a>, as well as District Attorney hopeful Ashley Foster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Texas Senate District 19 candidate Marcus Cardenas, Bexar County Republican Party Chair Kris Coons and state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio) cheer along with supporters for Governor Greg Abbott during a campaign stop in Adkins, Texas on Oct. 28, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Missing from the gathering were some the congressional candidates who face tough races this November, including Carlos De La Cruz<\/a>, whose campaign headquarters<\/a> is just a few miles down the road from Texas Pride BBQ.<\/p>\n

Hours after the event, text messages went out alerting San Antonio Republicans that Abbott would be back in town, at Bigz\u2019 Burger Joint on Nov. 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Hinojosa will appear at Northside AFT\u2019s union hall on <\/a>Sunday, followed by an event with Talarico that night at The Espee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The contest remains a tall order for Democrats, but Guerra Lozano said it\u2019s been worthwhile just to see Republicans put back on their heels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard it on national news that [Hinojosa] has run the best campaign, and a lot of candidates, Democrats, are following her style,\u201d Guerra Lozano said. \u201cShe has brought a lot of issues to the attention of Texas .. like the data centers, like funding public schools \u2026. So to me, she\u2019s already won.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Greg Abbott and his Democratic opponent, Gina Hinojosa, are both campaigning hard in Bexar County in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8519,58275,3496,392,82,84,83,13419,92,93],"class_list":["post-482385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-2026-election","tag-2026-texas-gubernatorial-election","tag-gina-hinojosa","tag-greg-abbott","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-texas-governor-race","tag-top-story","tag-typefeature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482385","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=482385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}