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By Jennifer Radcliffe
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More than three decades before defeating Republican Greg Abbott and returning Democrats to the Texas governor's mansion for the first time since Ann Richards, Brownsville high school senior Gina Hinojosa was already imagining her own campaign for the state's highest office.
A quote published in Hinojosa's 1992 Homer Hanna High School yearbook foreshadowed her political path.
"In ten years I will establish my career in a prominent law firm while strategizing my campaign for the next Texas gubernatorial elections after having Governor Ann Richards' endorsement," the yearbook entry from Hinojosa reads.
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Newsweek reached out to Hinojosa's campaign and the Brownsville Independent School District, which provided the yearbook pages.
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When Hinojosa wrote the yearbook entry, Richards was at the height of her political power. The silver-haired governor had captivated Democrats with a blend of humor, swagger and political fearlessness, becoming one of the most prominent female politicians in a state whose top offices had long been dominated by men. For Hinojosa and other young Texans, Richards symbolized what seemed possible.
"Talk about a woman who has known what she wanted for a very long time. It was not an accident," Valerie Martinez-Ebers, a distinguished research professor of political science at the University of North Texas, told Newsweek. "Ann Richards was a role model, of course, for Gina. For every girl our age now, Ann Richards was a role model."
Known for speaking her mind, sharp political instincts and quick wit, Richards became one of Texas' most recognizable political figures. At a time when women rarely occupied the highest levels of Texas government, she showed a generation of aspiring leaders, like Hinojosa, that the governor's mansion was not beyond their reach, Martinez-Ebers told Newsweek.
Richards's keynote speech to the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta brought her national attention when she said of the wealthy, then vice president of the United States, George H. W. Bush: "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."
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Elected governor in 1990, she served from 1991 until 1995 and remained the last Democrat to win the governor's office, until Hinojosa.
Richards' loss to George W. Bush in 1994 would become one of the pivotal turning points in modern Texas politics. What followed was a 32-year run of Republican rule under Bush, Rick Perry and Greg Abbott, all of whom won multiple terms as Democrats watched statewide office slip increasingly out of reach.
Even though Richards died on September 13, 2006, her family and supporters rallied behind Hinojosa's campaign, creating a "Team Ann for Team Gina" effort.
Gina Hinojosa's Political Rise
After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin and earning a law degree from George Washington University in 1999, Hinojosa began her career as a civil rights and labor attorney before entering elected office.
In 2016, Hinojosa won election to the Texas House of Representatives, representing portions of Austin. Before joining the Legislature, Hinojosa served on the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees and was elected board president.
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Hinojosa entered the 2026 governor's race as a long-shot challenger against Abbott, a Republican who had spent more than a decade in the governor's mansion and was seeking a fourth term.
She trailed in early polls and fundraising, but her campaign quickly gained national attention as Democrats poured resources into a contest many political observers initially viewed as safely Republican.
Hinojosa's campaign focused on public education, abortion access, voting rights and affordability concerns, while also attempting to capitalize on rapid demographic and political changes in Texas' major metropolitan regions.
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Martinez-Ebers, president-elect of the American Political Science Association, noted that she had known Hinojosa through progressive Latino political organizing efforts and described her as a leader who remained engaged with grassroots groups even after winning office. The years spent building coalitions, she said, should serve Hinojosa well as she begins her tenure as governor.
She cautioned that governing will prove at least as difficult as campaigning. She noted that Texas has one of the nation's weakest governorships in terms of formal powers, with a Republican-controlled Senate likely limiting Hinojosa's room to maneuver. While the governor can make appointments and call special legislative sessions, Martinez-Ebers said much of Hinojosa's influence will depend on her ability to build goodwill and political capital over time rather than relying on sweeping executive authority.
Texans will need to be patient, she said.
"There's such high expectations for Gina," Martinez-Ebers told Newsweek. "But Texas has one of the weakest chief executives. Most of her power will come from informal power. You build that the longer you serve."
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Rhian Morgan.
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