2026 Election: Texas governor's race focuses on fires, floods and schools Thursday
Greg Abbott & Gina Hinojosa on the campaign trail
We are less than two months away from the start of early voting for the November midterm elections. FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski has the latest details.
AUSTIN, Texas - A lot of campaign miles have already been logged by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
Abbott's campaign stops
What they're saying:
The governor took a detour from the campaign trail Thursday in order to tour some of the devastation caused by the massive Ross Fire, which has burned through part of Palo Pinto and Jack counties.
Officials said it may take two more weeks to put out the fire which has scorched 90,000 acres. Investigators know the fire started along a roadway but have not yet pinpointed the exact cause.
The governor noted there have been no fatalities, thanks in part to the firefighters and support staff who have been deployed to north Texas.
Abbott also acknowledged that along with wildfires, the state is also dealing with flooding in Southeast Texas, caused by Tropical Storm Eduoard that made landfall east of Beaumont earlier this week.
"There's no state in the United States that responds more effectively to natural disasters as does Texas. And we have put together both the resources and the personnel to make sure we're going to be able to respond to both a tropical storm and a massive wildfire at the very same time, also while we're monitoring other fires, monitoring other storms. And so it doesn't matter, we call it earth, wind, and fire. Regardless of what's happening, we're gonna be able respond and we have the resources to be to address it. And I want to thank the legislators. For ensuring the state of Texas does have both the financial and personal resources to provide that level of response," said Abbott.
His office also announced Thursday he is awarding nearly $900 million to boost career training programs in central Texas. Austin Community College, as well as the school districts in Hearne and Lometa, received grant money from the Texas Workforce Commission.
Hinojosa's campaign trail
The other side:
State Rep. Hinojosa was also talking about schools. Her trip to Dallas Thursday followed a swing through El Paso on Monday, where she was joined by fellow Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
Hinojosa continues to dismiss the governor's recent order that could pause the construction of data centers, calling the order a political stunt.
On Thursday, she joined several public-school advocates and continued to criticize the governor, upset that Abbott did not support the idea of dipping into the Rainy-Day Fund to give local schools more money, beyond the increase allocated last session by state lawmakers.
"What's happened more and more is that our public, our property tax dollars are being diverted elsewhere, away from neighborhood public schools. I mean, in 2023, for instance, we took, the state took under Greg Abbott's leadership, $8 billion away from public schools and put it into a supplemental budget for all of his other pet projects, right? That's money that could have gone to property tax relief. But that's money that could and should have gone to the classroom. And so we need to, again, get back to basics. Property taxes were supposed to support neighborhood public schools. That's why our property taxes are out of control, because more and more they've just been passed through to support other endeavors," said Hinojosa.
Texas House Democrats also had a focus on schools Thursday as they sent a letter to acting state comptroller Don Huffines demanding he provide more details about his upcoming review of how public schools are spending money.
Caucus members specifically want to know which districts are being audited, and how those districts are being selected. The group also wants to know why charter schools, districts under state control, and the TEA may be excluded from the review.
The Source: Information in this report comes from reporting by FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski.