Gubernatorial candidate Hinojosa makes campaign stop in Bryan

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa made a campaign stop in Bryan on Tuesday night, exciting the crowd of nearly 200 at the Phillips Event Center with an education-focused message and claims of corruption against Gov. Greg Abbott.

"When they were going to shut down my son's school, I got mad. I ran for office," she said, referring to her run for the Austin ISD school board. "That fight took me to the Texas House, where I've been fighting Greg Abbott's corrupt agenda for our schools in our state ever since, because I've never been afraid of Greg Abbott, and I'm certainly not afraid of him or his dirty money."

Hinojosa railed against the school voucher program the Legislature passed last year, which has been Abbott's top legislative priority for the last two sessions.

"Let's start with Greg Abbott's voucher scam. That's a billion dollars taken from our neighborhood schools to put into unaccountable private schools," she said without providing any documentation on her claims. "He received the largest campaign contribution in all of Texas history, $12 million, from an out-of-state billionaire who has a financial interest in vouchers. We all pay the price; our kids pay the price. That is an example of the Greg Abbott corruption tax."

Hinojosa spoke about the struggles of Texans to achieve the American Dream.

"I was raised with the promise of the American Dream. Remember the American Dream? Who remembers the American Dream? The American Dream was the promise that if you put in the work, if you work hard, you wouldn't just survive, you would thrive, and especially here in Texas," she said.

Hinojosa said she hears from many people who struggle to survive and have put off having children because they say they can't afford them.

"I will tell you that our public schools in Texas and the American Dream, are on life support," she said. "We have over 100 schools shutting down in Texas. We have over 150 school districts that are operating at four days a week, because they cannot afford to operate at five days a week, whole school districts.

"We have the most people being disconnected from their electricity of any state because they can't afford to pay their bills. We have the most people without health insurance. We have the most children without health insurance. We have the most bankruptcies of any state in America. We have the first major American city to potentially run out of water. All of this, despite the fact that our property taxes have gone up 75% under Greg Abbott," she said.

Hinojosa, the 52-year-old state representative from House District 49, spent five terms in the House before making a run for governor. She said she wants to help people succeed financially and in education.

"We are not asking for handouts. Nobody here wants handouts. We're asking for what we already paid for; we're asking for what we already worked for. We have put in the Texas grit, and now we want the American Dream," she said.

She mentioned that in the 2018 midterm election, Texas felt a blue wave that Democrats were not prepared for. She said that is changing in this midterm election.

"Democrats are winning all over Texas right now, and I think we need to be careful. I don't think what is happening is that people are saying in Texas, ‘I'm Team Democrat. I'm all for Democrats. I love the brand.' I don't think that's what's happening. I think what people are saying, ‘Whatever this is, I don't want it anymore. I want change,' right? We have an opportunity; we can't blow it. We have to make the most out of this opportunity and present a vision that people can believe in, and deliver when we get elected," she said.

Hinojosa said part of Abbott's strategy is to distract from real issues by touting culture war issues.

"I think the best thing we can do for all of the culture war issues is to deal with the economic issues head on; to deal with the fact that enough working Texans just don't have access to opportunity," she said. "When I am governor specifically for higher ed - the wonderful thing about that is that the governor appoints the boards of regents - and I will appoint boards of regents who value academic freedom and who also value the opportunity that our state institutions provide for working Texas families, and to keep that front and center."

A person from the audience asked Hinojosa about Abbott's recent policy shift to regulate the development of data centers.

"I love that Johnny Come Lately has finally adopted my position with data centers after he signed the bill to ensure that we would all subsidize the creation of all these data centers here in Texas," she said. "We've all been paying for the creation of these data centers.

"We have to have real protections to protect our water, to protect our electricity, and we have to ensure that AI does not replace jobs. AI is a powerful tool for jobs. It can be used by working people. It should never take the place of a teacher," she added.

In her introduction of Hinojosa, Brazos County Democratic Party Chair MiChal Hall said political campaigns are built one supporter at a time.

"Tonight is about more than an election. It's about the future of Texas," she said. "It's about the schools our children attend; the opportunities available to working families; the freedoms we cherish; the kind of Texas we want to leave the next generation."

After the event, Brazos County Commissioner Wanda Watson said she was encouraged by the turnout.

"I think that this is encouraging, particularly for Democrats to come out, and I think that there's going to be a sea of change with some of the things that are happening from a federal perspective, from a state perspective," she said. "To have someone of her stature come here, the turnout has just amazed me. I've been really surprised at the number of people who are willing to come out, and in essence, I don't know whether they're declaring themselves as Democrat or they're just all supporters of her. That says something for Brazos County."

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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 9:40 AM.