Gina Hinojosa’s clash with Greg Abbott sets stage for 2026 showdown

During the 2025 legislative session, when Republicans pushed to pass a school voucher bill that would use public money to pay for private education, many Capitol watchers thought Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin might be positioning herself to run for state comptroller.

The five-term lawmaker, a former Austin school board president, had been a fierce critic of the voucher plan. Controlling the agency that manages Texas’ finances would have given her a powerful role in shaping how such a program was implemented.

But in hindsight, it seems Hinojosa may have been aiming higher.

That became clear on Feb. 13, when she challenged Gov. Greg Abbott directly on social media.

"Call me a liar to my face," Hinojosa said eight months ago on the social media platform X in a post tagging Abbott, the Republican she announced Wednesday she intends to face in next year’s governor’s race if she wins the Democratic nomination on March 3.

The exchange came after Hinojosa posted that Abbott’s voucher plan would drain money from public schools. Abbott responded that Democrats either didn’t understand the bill "or they lie about it."

Abbott’s bid for a record fourth term as governor looks all but assured, with less than three weeks before the primary filing period opens. On the Democratic side, Hinojosa still has to get past entrepreneur Andrew White — who fell short in the 2018 primary for governor — and a couple of relatively unknown first-time candidates.

But the dustup back in February suggests that if Democrats go with Hinojosa, she won’t shy away from confrontation in the stretch between the primary and November. It also signals that Abbott won’t back down easily when the punches start flying.

Hinojosa’s response to Abbott’s suggestion that she might not understand education policy was to invite him to her Capitol office to explain what she’d learned about school finance as an Austin school board trustee. Abbott wasn’t interested.

"Can we really trust the former head of the woke Austin school board to give us the facts about our children’s education?" he replied, escalating what would become one of the session’s most memorable political dustups.

Abbott ultimately got his way. After failing to pass vouchers in 2023, he campaigned with a vengeance against House Republicans who joined Democrats to block the measure and helped unseat several of them. With a newly solidified pro-voucher majority, the governor made a show of signing the bill into law.

Hinojosa’s sharp exchange with Abbott, though, offered an early glimpse of her willingness to confront him head-on — a tone that has carried into her campaign. In her launch video, she urged Texans to “fight back,” saying Abbott’s policies have deepened inequality and drained public services. Her campaign has highlighted education, housing and health care as core issues.

White, meanwhile, has also been critical of Abbott since announcing his comeback bid for the Democratic nomination. But the son of the late Gov. Mark White is presenting himself as a consensus builder who would seek to end the partisan bruising of modern politics.

"I'm a balanced candidate. I'm a candidate, as an independent Democrat, that's willing to work with both sides," White said when he reintroduced himself to voters.

Abbott, who took office in 2015, would become the state's longest-serving governor if he is reelected and serves out a fourth term. That means he’s a known political commodity — and a tested campaigner.

His first race for governor, after serving three terms as Texas attorney general, came against then–state Sen. Wendy Davis and with a built-in boost: a national Republican wave as voters vented their frustration at President Barack Obama in his final midterm election cycle.

Four years later, the winds were more favorable for Democrats, allowing former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke to come within a whisker of unseating Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. But again, the breaks fell Abbott’s way when Democrats fielded the untested and underfunded Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez to challenge him during President Donald Trump’s midterm.

Fast-forward to 2022, and the tide was again running red in President Joe Biden’s only midterm. O’Rourke was Abbott’s opponent — flush with cash, charisma and confidence to throw a punch. But too few of them landed, and voters stuck with Abbott. He won by double digits.

We’re still a year and change out from November 2026, but Democrats are holding out hope that Trump’s second midterm cycle will be no better than his first. If that holds, it remains to be seen whether Abbott can again buck the tide. If Hinojosa emerges as the Democratic nominee, expect her to keep swinging — looking to exploit, or create, any opening that comes her way.