Gina Hinojosa Wins Texas Governor Race. What Happens to School Vouchers?

Democrat Gina Hinojosa has defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in the Texas governor’s race, according to the Associated Press. The result makes Hinojosa the first Latina elected governor of Texas and puts a public-school advocate in an office Abbott has held since 2015.

CBS News also projects Hinojosa’s victory over the three-term incumbent. The calls establish a winner before the state completes its certification process.

In victory remarks published by her campaign, Hinojosa said Abbott had called to congratulate her and offered help with the transition. She said she would begin that transition Wednesday and take office in January.

Public education was a central part of her challenge. The Texas Tribune reported before the election that Hinojosa campaigned against school vouchers and state takeovers of local districts, while Abbott emphasized property-tax cuts and other issues in the campaign’s final weeks.

Texas’ $1 billion voucher program launched this year after Abbott helped replace Republican legislators who had opposed it. The program directs public money toward private-school expenses, a policy that had divided Republicans as well as drawn Democratic opposition.

Hinojosa returned to the issue in her election-night speech, promising to increase teacher pay, repair damage she attributes to vouchers and fire Education Commissioner Mike Morath on her first day. Those statements describe her intended agenda; the election result does not itself repeal the voucher program.

Her office will have several tools. In its Wednesday report on Texas’ statewide results, the Tribune notes that a governor can take executive action, call special legislative sessions, make appointments and veto legislation.

Passing new laws still requires working with the Legislature. Republicans were expected to retain a Texas Senate majority, the Tribune reported, while control of the House remained unresolved in its early-Wednesday account.

The result also does not establish that education alone decided the race. The Tribune’s pre-election reporting pointed to University of Texas polling in which living costs, the economy and corruption were stronger voter motivations.

For families watching the voucher debate, the immediate development is a change in the governor’s office and the priorities its next occupant has promised to pursue. Decisions about school funding and the program’s future will follow the transition into governing.