When the Democrats last controlled Texas in 1994, the party supported strict immigration enforcement, generous tax breaks for oil and gas investments, and the state led the nation in capital punishment. More than 30 years later, the Democratic Party of Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa is far to the left of her predecessors.
Hinojosa has promised to end all immigration enforcement, including cooperation with federal law enforcement. She has authored legislation to make oil and gas production more expensive, and she has promised to roll back gains Texas parents have made toward choosing where their children go to school.
In short, Hinojosa plans to make Texas as chaotic and anti-growth as California.
Consider Barbara Jordan, the pioneering black Democratic congresswoman from Houston who chaired the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. In 1994, her commission found that America’s immigration system lacked credibility because people who had no right to enter could do so easily, while those already here illegally could remain with impunity. It recommended stronger border enforcement, verification of workers’ employment eligibility, and more effective deportation procedures. Jordan’s approach demanded that immigration laws be enforced at the border and inside the country — the opposite of Hinojosa’s promised withdrawal of state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The contrast on energy is just as stark. Under Democratic leadership in 1993, Texas enacted tax incentives to encourage new oil and gas discoveries and bring idle wells back into production. Hinojosa, by comparison, has authored legislation making oil and gas production more expensive. She has also promised a moratorium on new data center development, threatening investment in the facilities and the additional electricity generation needed to power them. Where her Democratic predecessors offered incentives to expand energy production, Hinojosa would impose new restrictions on producers and obstruct a major source of growth in electricity generation.
TRUMP’S CORRUPTION HAS COST REPUBLICANS DEARLY
On education, Hinojosa threatens to reverse one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) most consequential reforms. In May 2025, Abbott signed legislation establishing education savings accounts, backed by $1 billion, that allow participating families to pay for private school tuition, instructional materials, and educational therapies. The program gives parents greater power to find an education suited to their children rather than depend on their assigned public school. Hinojosa has called the program a “scam” and pledged to redirect its funding away from families and toward bureaucrats. Where Abbott expanded parental choice, Hinojosa wants to withdraw the financial support that makes those choices possible.
Control of Texas state government will give Democrats a stronger platform for fundraising, recruiting candidates, and building their political organization ahead of the 2028 presidential election. But power brings accountability. Voters in Texas and across the nation will be able to judge Democrats by what they deliver, rather than what they promise. If the party imports the same taxes, regulations, and restrictions on growth that have made Democratic strongholds such as California so expensive, its Texas victory could become a national liability. Democrats will have gained the machinery to campaign more effectively while giving voters fresh reasons to reject them.
Continue reading...
[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
