Rep. Hinojosa, Gina

Biography

Born and raised in Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, Rep. Gina Hinojosa proudly represents central Austin and her alma mater, The University of Texas in the Texas State House. Rep. Hinojosa sits on the House Public Education Committee, the House Business and Industry Committee, and the House Select Committee on Educational Opportunity and Enrichment. She also serves as the Chair of the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee.

After graduating from law school at the George Washington National Law Center in Washington, D.C., Gina began her career as a civil rights and labor lawyer, representing members of various unions including the CWA where she remains a dues-paying member today.

Gina began her public service on the Austin ISD school board when she was elected on a platform of saving her son’s public school from closing, as well as several other inner-city schools. Gina was elected President of the Austin ISD Board by her Board colleagues. During her leadership, AISD increased teacher pay, balanced the budget, and for the first time ever, every high school in AISD met the state’s accountability standards AND NO SCHOOL WAS CLOSED.

Gina ran for the Texas House in 2016 motivated by a determination to redirect more of our local property taxes to our neighborhood public schools. Gina won a 7-way primary outright without a runoff. In 2019, Rep. Hinojosa led the House Democrats’ successful and historic effort to direct more taxpayer money from state coffers into our public schools through HB 3 during the 86th Legislative Session.

Rep. Hinojosa is known for her uncompromising values and her relentless fight in solidarity with our community. She is a strategic and visionary leader who has both secured meaningful and innovative legislation, like the successful passage of HB 3488 (85R), her corporate reform bill to create Public Benefit Corporations in the state of Texas, and her sponsorship of SB 1350 (86R) which has brought over a billion dollars in federal funds to cover indigent health care in Travis County, while simultaneously staking out an aspirational agenda with the creation of the Texas Climate Plan in preparation for a Democratic majority. Rep. Hinojosa, also, remains one of the most astute practitioners of procedural rules and has, single-handedly, defeated numerous pieces of legislation that would have harmed our community.

Rep. Hinojosa’s most noteworthy accomplishments exemplify her brand of leadership to engage and optimize the power of our people, and never give up in pursuit of a winning way forward. Rep. Hinojosa organized the first House Democratic Caucus Quorum Break in two decades in response to the anti-voter bill, SB 7 (87R). The Quorum Break resulted in the preservation of the will of Texas voters and the freedom of Sunday morning voting, a longstanding practice of African American faith communities. Most recently, Rep. Hinojosa worked across party lines and led the effort during the 88th Legislative Session to defeat Governor Abbott’s voucher scam because in Texas we support our neighborhood public schools.