Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat, said she will work with President Donald Trump on border security and steer clear of culture wars when she takes office, according to an interview with The Washington Post.
“I agree with President Trump that our border needs to be secure and people should not be coming here to cross into the country,” Hinojosa said at the state Capitol on Friday, the Post reported. “It’s a dangerous journey and I don’t think it will be fruitful for them.” Newsmax said in a post on X that Hinojosa will work with Trump on border security.
Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa said she will avoid culture wars and work with President Donald Trump on border security. Read more: https://t.co/fIXz2mne7H pic.twitter.com/GFpUINMbd8
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) November 14, 2026
Trump’s caravan warning
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday that Mexico must stop migrant caravans moving north or face doubled tariffs, adding that “THE VERY LIBERAL NEW GOVERNOR OF TEXAS” had been informed, Newsmax reported.
Hinojosa said the Trump administration had not contacted her and she had not spoken to the president, “but I welcome that conversation,” according to the Post. “Trump and I won the same border communities: I won them this time, he won them last time,” she said, the Post reported.
Hinojosa unseated Gov. Greg Abbott on Nov. 3 and takes office Jan. 19, Newsmax reported. She is the first Democrat to win the office in more than three decades, according to Newsmax.
Operation Lone Star under review
Asked whether she would end Operation Lone Star, the more than $11 billion state border security operation Abbott launched in 2021, Hinojosa said she would review its legality, the Post reported. “It’s essential that we have strong partnership with Washington … to make sure our local border communities are safe,” she said, according to the Post.
She drew a line between border security and federal immigration enforcement inside Texas. Hinojosa said interior enforcement “has been chaotic and dangerous” and “that has to stop,” the Post reported, citing the fatal shooting of a migrant by an ICE agent in Houston in July.
Hinojosa said she will not challenge city leaders who limit police cooperation with ICE, according to Newsmax. But she said she will not try to overturn a state law requiring sheriffs and counties that run jails to comply with ICE. “I will always follow the law. The law is what it is. It’s up to the legislature if that’s going to get changed,” she said, the Post reported.
‘Not the mandate we were given’
Hinojosa dismissed concerns from some Republican lawmakers that she would use the governor’s emergency powers to set aside conservative laws, including the state’s abortion ban and its ban on gender transition medical care for minors, according to the Post. “I don’t see us trying to tackle culture wars. That was not the mandate we were given,” she said. “The mandate we were given was to deliver for Texans.”
On her first day, Hinojosa said she plans to declare a “high-cost emergency,” freeze electricity rates, suspend the 20-cent-per-gallon state gas tax and ask lawmakers to send every Texas household $1,500, Newsmax reported.
She also said she would lift Abbott’s designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a terrorist organization, according to the Post. Republicans kept their majority in the state Senate, and Hinojosa said she will work with the Legislature to reshape the school voucher program she voted against. “It’s going to all be one big negotiation,” she said, Newsmax reported.
Sources
- NEWSMAX on X
- The Washington Post via Anchorage Daily News: Texas’s Democratic governor-elect vows to trade GOP culture wars for moderation
- Newsmax via Yahoo News: Hinojosa Vows Moderation, Backs Trump on Border Security
Sources cited
Sources
- Original post: NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) on X, Nov 14, 2026
Posts on X are shown as published by their authors; claims in them are attributed, not independently confirmed unless the article says so. If an embedded post does not load, these links open the originals.