AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Among many big wins for Democrats in this week's midterms was the race for governor of Texas. Democrat Gina Hinojosa's victory will end three decades of Republican control of the state's top office. The former school board president is now preparing to lead Texas as its first Latina governor. From The Texas Newsroom, Blaise Gainey reports.
BLAISE GAINEY, BYLINE: On election night, as she stood with her husband and two sons, Gina Hinojosa traced her path to the governor's mansion back to 2011, when her son's school in Austin, Pease Elementary, was under threat of closing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GINA HINOJOSA: And when I saw my child's school under threat, I did what any mom would do. I fought back.
(CHEERING)
GAINEY: In 2012, she was elected to Austin's school board. She wanted more say in the decisions about the education of the community's children. A product of public schools herself, Hinojosa became a civil rights and labor lawyer. She grew up in Brownsville, Texas, a border town in the Rio Grande Valley. Democratic State Representative John Bucy says that concern for children has followed her to the Capitol.
JOHN BUCY: She's going to be fighting for the kids of this state. She did it on the school board. She's done it every day in the legislature.
GAINEY: Fighting back was a core message in her campaign.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HINOJOSA: I can't help but think of my grandmother, Grandma Hinojosa...
(CHEERING)
HINOJOSA: ...Who used to tell me, no te dejes.
(CHEERING)
HINOJOSA: Know your worth, and fight to defend it.
GAINEY: Her old colleague in the House, Democratic State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, called Hinojosa a tactician for her ability to strategize to reach her goals. In 2023, instead of having Democrats lead the debate against private school vouchers, she convinced her party to let rural Republicans lead the opposition. And then last year, she was part of a group of Democrat legislators who fled the state to try to stall Republicans' attempt to redraw congressional districts in their favor. She explained her reasoning to NPR from Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
HINOJOSA: You win for the day. And we don't know what tomorrow will hold, so it's a day-by-day situational fight, and we'll play to win every day.
GAINEY: The Republican majority eventually approved that map. Now Hinojosa faces the work of governing after Tuesday's election, where Democrats won by a landslide in all the statewide races. On Thursday, during her first press conference since becoming governor-elect, Hinojosa said she'd be working for all Texans, highlighting her bipartisan approach by choosing a Republican, former state representative Ernest Bailes, to be on her transition team.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HINOJOSA: People are tired of the divisions, of the fighting, tired of the culture wars. This is a time to come together in a way that is about just delivering for the people of Texas.
GAINEY: The victory carries a personal meaning for comedian Cristela Alonzo. She campaigned for Hinojosa in the Rio Grande Valley, where they both grew up. As a child, Alonzo said she wanted to be president but was told a poor girl from the Valley couldn't do that. At a rally at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley just days before the election, Alonzo told students Hinojosa's success meant they could do it, too.
CRISTELA ALONZO: And now they actually have an example of seeing someone and say, you can be governor? And that is possible because of her. If you can be governor, what more can you be?
GAINEY: On January 19, Hinojosa, who calls herself a daughter of the Rio Grande Valley, will become the top elected official of the Lone Star state.
For NPR News, I'm Blaise Gainey. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.