Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa on Wednesday afternoon challenged Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to an Oct. 15 debate outside the Texas Governor’s mansion, accusing her rival being too cowardly to defend his record.
“Today, here in San Antonio, I am calling on Greg Abbott to meet me at his Governor’s Mansion,” Hinojosa said during a press conference at the Bexar County Courthouse. “I will come to him to debate. He needs to stop hiding from the voters. The people of Texas deserve to hear my plan for Texas versus his record for Texas.”
The demand by Hinojosa, an Austin state rep, comes as three new polls, including a New York Times/Siena survey released Saturday, show her with a narrow lead in the race. Polling aggregator Real Clear Politics has also moved the race into its “tossup” category, while the Cook Political Report shifted it from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.”
Abbott’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to the Current’s request for comment.
Despite the tight polling, Abbott has so far refused to meet Hinojosa on the debate stage — something Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson recently told the Current may reinforce voters’ sense that the Texas GOP has a “sense of entitlement.”
During her Wednesday presser, Hinojosa argued that the three-term incumbent is avoiding her because he wants to avoid discussing his failures on affordability, funding Texas schools and regulating data centers. She also said she would push to redistribute some of the state’s Rainy Day Fund, which now stands at $26.9 billion, to Texas families struggling in the current economy.
“My plan for Texas is to secure the American Dream,” Hinojosa said. “The American Dream that I grew up understanding where if you worked hard, you would have a good life. We were the land of opportunity, but it is now out of reach for too many Texans.”
As the race enters the home stretch, Hinojosa has attracted more national attention.
Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and the Democratic Governors Association recently pumped $1 million each into her campaign. New York Times columnist also did a lengthy piece sizing up Hinojosa’s chances of bringing Texas its first blue governorship since Ann Richards held office in the ’90s.
“She certainly has a much better chance than I did in ’22,” Beto O’Rourke, who came up 10 points when he challenged Abbott that election cycle, told the Times.
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