Race · November 3, 2026

Governor · Texas

3 candidates on the ballot.¹

§1Candidates

Why this matters: Every candidate the state lists for this race on the November ballot, in the state's own order.

Greg Abbott

Republican Party · Incumbent

Gina Hinojosa

Democratic Party · Challenger

Pat Dixon

Libertarian Party · Challenger

§2Side by side

Why this matters: The same facts for every candidate, in the same order. Where we found nothing for a candidate, the cell says so — that means we didn't find it in public sources, not that it doesn't exist.

Scroll sideways on small screens. Select a name for the full page.
Fact	Greg Abbott	Gina Hinojosa	Pat Dixon
Party on the ballot	Republican Party^1,2,3	Democratic Party^1,2	Libertarian Party^1,2
Status	Incumbent	Challenger	Challenger
Money	Candidates for governor file campaign-finance reports with the state, not the FEC, so this guide doesn't include their fundraising. Search the state's reports: Campaign finance reports search — Texas Ethics Commission.⁴
Abortion law	His campaign website lists laws limiting abortion among the legislative accomplishments of his time in office.⁵	Not found in the public sources we checked	His campaign website says he personally opposes abortion but does not want politicians involved in difficult medical decisions made by patients and their doctors, and that he is unsure of the best policy in cases of rape and incest. It says he hopes abortions keep declining through persuasion and options such as adoption rather than police action.⁶
State K-12 school funding	His campaign website says money Texas has put into public schools should go mainly to classrooms rather than administration, and it proposes dedicating 70% of school funding to classrooms and auditing school districts for waste.⁷	Her campaign website says she would audit the state's education vendor contracts, end improper ones and use the money to make Texas teachers among the highest paid in the nation.⁸	Not found in the public sources we checked
Vouchers and education savings accounts	Not found in the public sources we checked	No public money for private school or homeschooling costs Her campaign website says she would end the state's school voucher program and keep taxpayer money in neighborhood public schools.⁸	Make them available to every family His campaign website says the state should not turn away so many of the students who applied for its education savings account program, and that ideally every child would receive the same amount of money to use at any school.^9,10
Data centers and electricity costs	A post from his X account shown on his campaign website says new data centers in Texas are being paused and must disclose plans to pay their own way, supply their own power and reuse their own water.¹¹	Pause or limit new data centers Her campaign website calls for an immediate moratorium on new data centers until the Legislature passes protections that give communities a say, and it says residential electricity rates should be frozen until laws make data centers and other large power users pay for the grid costs they create.^12,13	Require data centers to pay the full cost of the power plants and lines they need His campaign website says Texas should not pay to attract AI data centers, and that he does not oppose data centers that pay for their impact or provide their own resources.^14,15
Business tax breaks	Not found in the public sources we checked	Cut back many of these breaks and use the money for lower tax rates, deficit reduction or other priorities Her campaign website says she would end state subsidies for corporations, and it calls for ending the tax breaks for large data centers that Texas created in 2015.^12,13	Cut back many of these breaks and use the money for lower tax rates, deficit reduction or other priorities His campaign website opposes the state's tax exemptions and other incentives used to attract data centers and other large companies, saying growth should pay for itself.^14,15
Property taxes	His campaign website proposes a constitutional amendment letting voters decide whether to eliminate school district property taxes on homesteads, and it would lower the yearly cap on homestead appraisal increases from 10% to 3% and extend a cap to all property. It would also require two-thirds voter approval for local property tax increases and let voters force an election to lower local tax rates.⁷	Eliminate property taxes on primary homes Her campaign website says she would end state subsidies for corporations and use the savings to cut property taxes, with the goal of eventually eliminating property taxes on homes.¹³	His campaign website says property taxes fund local governments, questions promises to eliminate them without naming spending cuts, and says he favors reforming the appraisal system where possible while respecting local control over tax policy.¹⁶
State government spending	Not found in the public sources we checked	Her campaign website says she would ask the Legislature to send a one-time $1,500 refund to every Texas household from the state's Rainy Day Fund, leaving about $10 billion in the fund.¹³	Cut state spending and return the savings through tax cuts or rebates His campaign website says that as governor he would look for specific state spending cuts first, rather than cuts across the board, and use the savings to lower taxes.^16,17

Issues only one candidate has addressed

By candidate, in ballot order. We found nothing public from the other candidates in this race on these issues.

Greg Abbott — 4 issues

Cash bail and pretrial release
Require bail or jail before trial for more charges
His campaign website says people in the country without legal permission who are arrested for violent felonies should be denied bail and held until trial, and it says he has already made the state's bail rules stricter.^7,11
Police funding
His campaign website lists among his accomplishments a law that takes funding away from cities that cut their police budgets.^5,18
Zoning and new housing
Have states require cities to allow more types of housing, such as apartments near transit
His campaign website says he would let homeowners build additional structures on their property by right, speed up permits and inspections, and bar cities from adding requirements that it says undermine the state's 2025 housing laws.⁷
Border wall and barriers
His campaign website lists building a Texas border wall among the steps he has taken to secure the southern border.⁵

Gina Hinojosa — 1 issue

Large investors buying single-family homes
Her campaign website says she would stop private equity firms from buying up homes, and that in 2025 she wrote a bill to keep institutional investors from buying more than 10 single-family homes.¹³

Pat Dixon — 11 issues

Death penalty
Abolish it
His campaign website says he opposes the death penalty and would support repealing it, because the government should not have the power to make an irreversible mistake.¹⁹
Marijuana laws
Make it legal for adults to buy and use
His campaign website praises the governor's veto of a ban on hemp-derived THC products and says Texas should go further, letting adults make their own choices as long as they do not harm others.²⁰
Drawing district lines (redistricting)
His campaign website calls for nonpartisan redistricting, such as maps drawn by software to be compact and fair, and says that if a president asked him to redraw five-year-old districts in the president's favor, he would say no.²¹
Proof of citizenship to register to vote
His campaign website says the state needs to know that people registering to vote have residency and legal status, notes that some legal residents lack passports or driver's licenses, and suggests adding photos or other biometrics to voter registration cards.²²
Ranked-choice voting
Let each state or city decide
His campaign website says he would support letting Texas cities use other voting systems, naming approval voting as his favorite and saying he also supports ranked-choice voting.²³
Red flag laws
His campaign website says red flag laws raise due process concerns, while asking whether the state must wait for violence when there is evidence that someone plans an attack.²⁴
Public health emergency powers and workplace vaccine requirements
His campaign website says that in a crisis such as COVID, taking away people's liberty and livelihoods is the last thing he would consider, and that elected officials who imposed mandates and closures should be held accountable.²⁵
State and local role in immigration enforcement
His campaign website says immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility that Texas can cooperate with, but that he would refuse to take part if it meant harming the life, liberty or property of Texans.²⁶
State sales taxes
Lower sales tax rates or stop taxing necessities such as groceries
His campaign website says that once state spending is reduced, the state should lower its sales tax rate to return money to taxpayers.¹⁷
Data privacy
His campaign website says buying people's private data without their consent should be illegal, and it proposes limits on government camera surveillance, including a warrant to reconstruct a person's movements over time.²⁷
Rules for artificial intelligence
His campaign website says risks from AI are best handled by market competition and by laws that give people recourse for harms, with lawmakers filling gaps in existing law, rather than starting with licenses and permits meant to prevent harm in advance.^14,28

Issue statements are drafted by AI from the public sources cited, and only cover what each candidate has said publicly.

All 2026 races in Texas