Days before Election Day, Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa is stepping into the ring for a critical voting bloc in the Lone Star State: Hispanic men.
Her campaign plans to air a 30-second advertisement Saturday during Mexican boxing superstar Canelo Álvarez's fight against Christian Mbilli, an effort to reach Hispanic voters, especially Latino men, who played a significant role in President Trump's 2024 victory. The spot will run on DAZN, the sports streaming platform carrying the bout.
The advertisement is titled "No Te Dejes," a Spanish expression meaning "Don't let yourself be pushed around," and it repeats Hinojosa's central campaign message: "Fight back." According to her campaign, the spot contrasts her proposals to protect public schools, restrict data center expansion and lower taxes with what she argues is three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's prioritization of wealthy donors and large corporations.
The ad reflects a broader Democratic strategy of engaging Hispanic men through sports and culturally relevant programming rather than relying exclusively on traditional political advertising. It is an approach already tested in another Southwestern battleground: during his successful 2024 Senate campaign in Arizona, Democrat Ruben Gallego courted Latino men through boxing watch parties, rodeos, cookouts and other community events. Gallego went on to defeat Republican Kari Lake, becoming Arizona's first Latino U.S. senator, even as Mr. Trump carried the state by nearly six percentage points. In an interview with CBS News following his victory, Gallego said his strategy with Hispanic voters was to "talk to them as often as possible."
Abbott has also pitched himself to Latino voters in Texas. His campaign launched a Spanish-language ad casting Hinojosa as too socially liberal for the state, and press secretary Eduardo Leal argued in a statement last week that her policies do not match "the values of the Hispanic community." Abbott has also highlighted his wife Cecilia's status as the state's first Hispanic first lady.
Hispanics make up around 40% of Texas' population and could play a central role in Hinojosa's push to become the state's first Democratic governor in over three decades. A CBS News poll earlier this month showed Abbott leading Hinojosa by four points outright, with a 3.4-point margin of error, but Hinojosa led by 23 points among likely Hispanic voters.
Still, the group is not nearly as blue as it once was. Some 55% of Latino Texans voted for Mr. Trump in 2024, according to CBS News exit poll data, and Latino men favored the president by a nearly two-to-one margin. That shift turned once reliably Democratic counties in the Rio Grande Valley into GOP-leaning territory and scrambled Democrats' hopes that Texas was moving their way.
In comments to CBS News, Hinojosa argued that Mr. Trump's message resonated with Texans who felt the political establishment had failed them, saying he captured Latino voters in the Valley and across Texas because he said the system is rigged. She added that Democrats had been "defending a system that is indefensible, that is actually working against us." Democrats are hopeful the 2024 shift will prove temporary.
Chuck Rocha, Gallego's former campaign adviser and a Democratic strategist and CBS News political contributor, is now advising both Hinojosa and Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. Rocha told CBS News many Hispanic voters are disillusioned with high gas prices and other cost-of-living worries, though Mr. Trump's immigration policies have also caused frustration. "Right now, they're more monolithic than I have ever seen in my life, and they're monolithically mad," he said.
Daniel Garza, president of the conservative Latino advocacy group LIBRE Initiative, sees it differently, saying "there is no pro-Democrat enthusiasm" in his home region of South Texas. "I think most voters couldn't tell you what the Democrat plan is for bringing down prices," he said. For now, Hinojosa is betting that one of Mexico's biggest sports stars can help her land a punch with the voters both parties are fighting to win.
