IN THE NEWS: Hinojosa Releases Data Center Ad as Abbott Bleeds Support from Rural Texans

POLITICO: “There will be no enthusiasm for Governor Abbott this time in rural areas.”

Austin, TX – This week, Democratic Nominee for Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa released a data center ad, “Abbott Intelligence,” in rural markets across Texas, as POLITICO finds that longtime conservative rural Texans are “now considering the unthinkable – voting in November for a Democrat to be Texas’ next governor.”

Abbott is “bleeding support from small towns as he seeks a fourth term because of two late-emerging issues: power-hungry tech campuses and a planned $33 billion electric transmission build-out,” wrote POLITICO. Across Texas, “rural people feel like they are the ones seeing the brunt of it” and “are among the most opposed to data center development.” And despite his flip-flopping on the issue, “rural voters aren’t buying Abbott’s change in tone.”

In contrast, Gina Hinojosa has been traveling the state and listening to Texans’ needs directly. After meeting residents being impacted in rural Texas, including in Granbury and the Panhandle, Hinojosa called on Abbott to issue a moratorium on data centers and sign an emergency executive order calling for a special session to establish real protections and give Texans a seat at the table to decide if and how data centers come into their communities.

Hinojosa’s new campaign ad, “Abbott Intelligence,” is up in rural markets across Texas and calls out Abbott for accepting over $20 million in campaign contributions from donors with major stakes in data centers.

WATCH THE FULL AD HERE.

Read more below:

POLITICO: ‘We are not a bunch of woke Marxist liberals here’: Rural voters scramble Texas election 

  • Rural voters may not stop the spread of data centers, but they could stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
  • The Republican is bleeding support from small towns as he seeks a fourth term because of two late-emerging issues: power-hungry tech campuses and a planned $33 billion electric transmission build-out.
  • Pushback against Abbott points to larger fears about losing rural identities, but also to everyday concerns about construction, pollution and tight supplies of water and electricity. Shawn Nanny, a Republican county commissioner in West Texas, said data centers and power line plans are the “straws that broke the camel’s back” when it comes to Abbott and other Texas GOP leaders.
  • Some longtime conservatives are now considering the unthinkable — voting in November for a Democrat to be Texas’ next governor. And Abbott’s August directive to pause Texas data center grid approvals hasn’t convinced all of them to vote for him.
  • “They understand the repercussions of that, but you know what I’m hearing is, ‘Yeah, we’ll have a Democrat in there and grit our teeth and bear it, but hopefully we’ll come out of it the following election,’” said Nanny, who lives in Tom Green County. “They’re so upset; they just want [Abbott] out.”
  • Texas has not elected a Democrat as governor in more than 35 years, but analysts say Abbott can’t afford to lose much of his rural support in November. Recent polls released by Texas A&M University and Fox News showed Abbott with a 1 percentage point lead over Democratic challenger state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
  • Polling from the nonpartisan Texas Politics Project showed Abbott’s approval rating among rural voters plunged from 2018 to 2026 — going from 63 percent to 48 percent.
  • Numerous conservative voters in sparsely populated areas said in interviews they feel like Abbott and state Republican lawmakers from larger cities have been over eager to support business and infrastructure build-outs that threaten their way of life.
  • Rural residents say there’s a growing tension between Abbott’s push to support the “Texas economic miracle” by enticing big business to less populated areas and the state’s long-standing ranching and agricultural traditions.
  • “It feels like an attack on a culture, a way of life, because now I think rural Texas is feeling like ‘Okay, now they want us, but don’t want our culture — they want our resources,’” said Suzanne Bellsnyder, an Abbott campaign field director in 2014 who now runs the Texas Rural Reporter website.
  • Democrats, including Hinojosa, have been leaning into rural voters’ antipathy, as have some Republicans. They say rural Texans’ concerns are being ignored for the sake of business interests.
  • Hinojosa on Tuesday unveiled a new campaign ad targeting “Abbott Intelligence” in rural markets.
  • “I’ve spent this campaign crossing Texas, and everywhere I go, rural voters tell me Greg Abbott stopped listening to them years ago,” Hinojosa said last week in a statement. “As governor, I’ll fight to put the people of Texas first, not the billionaire class.”
  • “We are not a bunch of woke Marxist liberals here, but I’m telling you our constituents oppose this and may become single-issue voters over this,” Greg Torres, McCulloch County attorney and a Republican in Central Texas, said in an interview about the 765-kV lines.
  • Groups supporting Abbott have raked in campaign contributions from data center developers and at least one transmission company building some of the 765-kV lines. C-suite officials with Oncor Electric have given a pro-Abbott political action committee $265,000, and Elon Musk cut the PAC a check for $500,000.
  • “What makes me mad about it is who saves them in elections? We do,” Torres said. “There will be no enthusiasm for Governor Abbott this time in rural areas.”
  • Bloomquist, who couldn’t recall ever voting for a Democrat, said she wouldn’t vote for Abbott again.
  • “He sold Texans out to big business, and I just don’t trust him anymore,” Bloomquist said.