Hinojosa on Trump $10 million Paxton race investment: ‘I welcome the attention on Texas’

Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa (D) embraced the new spotlight on her state brought on by the unexpectedly close Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton.

“You are running in a state President Trump won by nearly 14 percentage points. He just announced, as I mentioned, that $10 million investment to boost Republican chances in the Texas Senate race. Are you concerned that all of this will, in fact, energize GOP voters in Texas?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Hinojosa, a representative in the state’s House.

“No, actually not at all. If you look at the polling, President Trump is underwater, Greg Abbott is underwater and people are tired of this politics as usual. People want change in Texas. They’re galvanizing, organizing. We’re building real momentum in this race,” the Democrat replied.

She added, “So, I welcome the attention on Texas. Texas is battleground in 2026. If you don’t believe it, look at what Republicans are doing. But that’s what I hear every day on the campaign trail.”

Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., gave $10 million to the Texas attorney general’s Senate campaign , per Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings published over the weekend.

In a poll from late last month, incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was leading Hinojosa in the race by 7 percentage points, earning 48 percent of respondents’ support. Just 1 percent of those polled backed the Libertarian third-party candidate, while the remaining 8 percent were undecided and 1 percent said they didn’t plan to vote.

Hinojosa ‘s showdown in the Lone Star State come as Democrats look to make key gains in the midterms amid rocky political territory for the GOP. Some polls have placed Talarico, another Democratic state representative, ahead of Paxton for Texas’ open Senate seat — which a Republican has occupied for the past three decades.

In recent years, Texas Democrats have sought to notch statewide electoral wins but haven’t had much success, such as in the 2018 Senate race between former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) and incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R).