Democrat Gina Hinojosa Defeats Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas Governor's Race

Democrat Gina Hinojosa, a Texas state representative, won the Texas governor's race on Tuesday, defeating Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who conceded that evening. The Associated Press called the race shortly after 9:15 p.m. CT. At about 9:30 p.m., NBC News showed Hinojosa with over 56 percent to Abbott's 42 percent, with nearly 70 percent of votes counted. Abbott, in office since 2015, told supporters votes remained to be counted but he could not win mathematically, and said he told Hinojosa he would help her team with a transition. Hinojosa will be the first Democratic governor in more than three decades and the state's first Hispanic governor, one report said. Abbott outspent her by tens of millions of dollars. Hinojosa promised to earn the job every day, said there would be no special rules for the wealthy and powerful, and said she would not look away if someone in her own party did wrong. One report said Democrat James Talarico also beat Republican Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, helping Democrats retake the chamber.

The left-leaning New Republic leads with the scale of the result, headlining "Blue Texas Is Finally Here" and calling it a shocking upset. It covers Hinojosa and Talarico together, stresses the Senate majority, Abbott's spending edge and Trump's 56 percent win two years earlier, and gives no quotes. The right-leaning outlets diverge. The Blaze calls Hinojosa an open-borders radical, cites her support for taxpayer-funded health care for illegal aliens and sanctuary cities, and credits Abbott with leading through the Biden border crisis. Breitbart reports the concession in a straighter tone, with the AP call, NBC vote figures and long quotes from Abbott and Hinojosa, and omits the Senate race. All agree Hinojosa beat Abbott on Tuesday. NewsNation's headline looks at her statements on the border and illegal crossings.