Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who is running for governor of Texas, speaks during a recent press conference in San Antonio. Credit: Stephanie Koithan

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa on Monday blamed her Republican opponent, Gov. Greg Abbott, for Texas falling from No. 2 to No. 4 in CNBC’s annual Top States for Business rankings.

CNBC attributed Texas’ step backward in the ranking to the state’s poor quality of life, which the media outlet chalked up to “persistently high crime, poor healthcare, and lack of inclusiveness.” Indeed, the media company ranked Texas second from the bottom in quality of life.

In a statement, Hinojosa — an Austin-area state representative — blamed Abbott for the state’s poor ranking in quality of life, citing her opponent’s policies, leadership failures and alleged corruption.

“Texas workers put in more hours than the national average and still can’t get ahead, because Abbott isn’t interested in working families; he’s interested in keeping his billionaire donors rich and writing him checks,” Hinojosa said. “His trickle-down agenda is selling Texas out to the highest bidder, and we are all paying the price.”

CNBC uses 10 metrics in its methodology to produce its rankings. However, each metric is weighed differently.

Researchers give metrics including Infrastructure, Economic Health and Workforce the most weight, while also factoring in Cost of Living, Education and Access to Capital to lesser degrees. Other metrics include Quality of Life, Cost of Doing Business, Technology and Innovation, and Business Friendliness.​

This year, Texas dropped in Technology & Innovation, Business Friendliness and Education. However, the state improved in Infrastructure and Cost of Living. The strength of the state’s economy, Workforce, Cost of Doing Business, Access to Capital, and Quality of Life remained unchanged.

“This ranking change is a direct result of Greg Abbott’s failed policies that put billionaire donors before working Texans: siphoning $1 billion from Texas’ public schools into an unaccountable voucher program, raising electricity for millions of households, and handing data centers the most generous tax dollar giveaway in the country,” Hinojosa said.

Ohio ranked as the best state for business this year, followed by North Carolina and Virginia, according to CNBC. Meanwhile, the states at the bottom are Hawaii, Alaska and Rhode Island.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...