Gina HinojosaGina Hinojosa

Gina Hinojosa is a Democratic Texas state representative, civil-rights attorney, and longtime advocate for Texas families and public schools. Elected to the Texas House in 2016, she is running for governor in 2026 on an affordability-focused platform centered on strengthening public education, making healthcare more accessible, supporting working families and small businesses, and challenging the influence of large corporations and wealthy donors in state government. She also opposes private-school vouchers and is calling for greater accountability around issues such as data-center development, energy costs, and the use of taxpayer dollars.

Representative Hinojosa has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2017, where she has a track record of fighting to fully fund neighborhood public schools, reduce standardized testing, and give teachers the respect and support they deserve.

“While Greg Abbott has spent years trying to defund public schools and hand our tax dollars to his billionaire donors through voucher schemes, Gina has been in the trenches fighting for every student in every classroom,” said Carolyn Boyle, co-chair of Texas Parent PAC. “Texas parents need a governor who will fight for their children’s future, not greedy special interests pushing tax-funded privatization.”

Hinojosa was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley. She never planned on running for office, but when her son’s school was threatened with closure by state budget cuts, she rallied parents, won a seat on the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees, and kept the school open. She went on to serve as president of the AISD board. When neighborhood schools continued closing across Texas because Republican leaders kept diverting money from them, she ran for the Texas House of Representatives and won.

In the Legislature, Hinojosa helped win more than $11 billion in new school funding, reduced standardized testing, and secured raises for teachers. She has consistently stood up against efforts to divert public school funding to private school vouchers and has fought to ensure every Texas child has access to a quality education regardless of their zip code.

Among a range of legislation, Hinojosa has worked to lower childcare costs for working families, increase housing affordability, raise wages, and support job creation and small business growth.

The Texas Legislature will be more effective and independent with a new Governor in 2027, said Texas Parent PAC co-chair Tracy Fisher. “Gina is an authentic leader who respects local representation, not bullying from the top.”

Hinojosa earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from George Washington University. Before serving in the Legislature, she worked as a civil rights attorney. She and her husband have two sons.

Gina Hinojosa serves in the state legislature, where she is a consistent and fierce advocate for working people and public schools. As Governor, she'll take on the broken system that gives corrupt deals to corporations and political donors while the rest of us struggle to stay afloat. Gina's plan will save our schools and put more money in your pockets by cracking down on out-of-control data centers, lowering your property taxes and providing every household with a $1,500 refund to cover some of the costs from decades of corruption.

Classified as supporting a data center pause - notable in the state with the largest planned buildout. Also a signer of The AI PACT five-point pledge. Moderate on AI safety and regulation, strong on data center opposition, moderate public voice on AI.

Member of TSEU (CWA 6186)