Austin state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in the race for Texas governor, made a campaign swing through Houston this week. She faces a steep financial challenge in her effort to unseat Gov. Greg Abbott, the three-term Republican incumbent.
The latest campaign finance reports available from the Texas Ethics Commission show Abbott has more than $86 million in cash on hand. Hinojosa, who joined the race for governor months after the latest reporting period, declined to say how much she currently has.
"Greg Abbott can have his campaign dollars, and we’ll have the people of Texas," Hinojosa said. "Greg Abbott is deeply unpopular in this state. He is polling at 32% approval rating. He has to undo what people have been knowing of him for about 12 years. There’s not enough money to do that in the span of this race."
When pressed on the matter, Hinojosa acknowledged it would be difficult to contest a general election across Texas' many media markets given the size of Abbott's war chest.
"We’ll need to raise a lot of money in this run to beat Greg Abbott," Hinojosa said. "We don’t need to raise as much as him, but we need to raise enough to compete, and I have no doubt that we will raise the money we need to beat Greg Abbott in November."
A spokesperson for Abbott’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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The deadline to file a Texas campaign finance report for the second half of 2025 is Jan. 15.
Hinojosa is running in a contested Democratic primary, but the most recent polling shows her leading her nearest rival, former congressman and 2006 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell, by nearly 40 percentage points. She received an additional boost earlier this week when Andrew White — the son of the late former Gov. Mark White and an unsuccessful 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who had been polling between Hinojosa and Bell — suspended his campaign and endorsed Hinojosa.
"I’m very grateful, very humbled, for Andrew’s support in this race. We had a nice meeting this morning about it, and it is exciting to see Democrats consolidating behind my run to beat Greg Abbott," Hinojosa said. "We’re all on the same team, and that’s to make Texas a place that works for working Texans, for everyday Texans."
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