▶ Watch Video: New polls show Democrats with edge in Senate, governor’s races in Texas
Latino Democratic leaders are renewing calls for the Democratic Governors Association to invest more heavily in Texas after a New York Times/Siena College poll showed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa narrowly leading Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
The poll released Saturday found Hinojosa ahead of Abbott by three points, a result within the poll’s margin of error. It comes as Hinojosa continues to face a huge financial disadvantage against the three-term Republican governor. Abbott’s reelection campaign and his Republican allies are outspending her by roughly 10-to-1.
More than 70 Latino Democratic leaders from across the country sent a letter this week urging the DGA and its chair, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, to invest $10 million in the Texas governor’s race. The New York Times first reported on the letter, which CBS News has confirmed.
Beshear, a potential 2028 presidential contender, has been constrained by the DGA’s commitments to first protect incumbent Democratic governors seeking reelection, though some of those incumbents are currently in strong positions.
In a statement, Beshear called Hinojosa a “great candidate” and said the DGA is “currently investing by paying expenses and providing staff, with more to come.”
“My goal as chair of the DGA this year is to win as many races as we can and that’s exactly what we’re doing by going on offense and expanding the map,” Beshear said.
Julián Castro, who served as secretary of housing and urban development in the Obama administration, renewed the push Saturday following the release of the New York Times poll. Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio and a 2020 presidential contender, took to social media to call for the DGA and Beshear to support Hinojosa “in a real way.”
“How much more evidence” of Hinojosa’s “strength in Texas” will Beshear and the DGA “have to see before they support her in a real way?” Castro wrote. “She can win!”
The renewed pressure comes as Democrats increasingly see the Lone Star state as competitive in the closing weeks of the campaign, even as Hinojosa continues to face a substantial spending disadvantage — what some Republicans are describing as a “firewall” — in a state that President Trump won by nearly 14 points in 2024.
