Texas Governor Race Puts Pressure on Andy Beshear and Democratic Governors Association

Reid J. Epstein has covered Democratic governors and their campaigns for a decade. He reported from Washington.

As polls suggest that Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat, is competitive in her campaign to become the first Latina governor of the usually reliably Republican state of Texas, a growing number of prominent Latino officials are angry that she is not getting more help from the party.

Now there are veiled threats that if the Democratic Governors Association fails to invest in her bid, some Latino leaders could withhold their support from the group's chairman, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, should he, as expected, run for president in 2028.

"We are asking you to invest in a competitive race with the largest Latino electorate in the country following an election cycle where Republicans made alarming inroads with Latinos," read a letter more than 70 Latino officials sent Wednesday to Mr. Beshear at the D.G.A.

Ms. Hinojosa's allies have recruited a cadre of officials, including some from the early-voting states of Nevada and New Mexico, to push Mr. Beshear to direct the group to spend $10 million on her campaign against Gov. Greg Abbott, the incumbent Republican who is seeking a fourth term.

"All Democrats would do better when and if we help Gina Hinojosa win Texas," said one of the Democrats who signed the letter, Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who like Mr. Beshear is considering a 2028 run. "No matter who you are, no matter if you're running for president, you want Gina Hinojosa to be the governor of Texas."

Last week, the D.G.A. allocated $650,000 to help the Democratic candidate for governor in Alaska. Texas has been a back-burner race for the D.G.A., which has so far invested in backing Democratic candidates in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, and Wisconsin. It has not yet spent or directed money on advertising in Texas.

"Gina Hinojosa is a great candidate and running a great campaign," Mr. Beshear said in a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday. "The D.G.A. is currently investing by paying expenses and providing staff, with more to come. My goal as chair of the D.G.A. this year is to win as many races as we can and that's exactly what we're doing by going on offense and expanding the map."

When asked about Ms. Hinojosa's race in an interview published last week by USA Today, Mr. Beshear said he would not allow his own presidential aspirations to color how he directs D.G.A. resources this year.

"I, as the DGA chair, can't be motivated by pleasing or not pleasing anyone when it comes to '28," Mr. Beshear said. "I made a commitment to win as many races as I can in '26."

The pleas for more aid come as polls show Ms. Hinojosa competitive with Mr. Abbott, whose campaign has spent $68 million in advertising so far, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm, while she has spent just $8.7 million.

Mr. Beshear's PAC, In This Together, sent $25,000 to Ms. Hinojosa's campaign and he has been making fund-raising calls to donors on her behalf, a D.G.A. official said. Mr. Beshear and Ms. Hinojosa spoke by phone on Tuesday, according to two people briefed on the exchange.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, the nation's lone sitting Latina governor, has been phoning donors to help Ms. Hinojosa raise money, she said. She said she has also worked with Mr. Beshear to direct resources to Hispanic communities. "We should all be focused on supporting Gina," said Ms. Lujan Grisham, whose state will be early in the 2028 primary calendar.

The fund-raising disparity in Texas illustrates a longstanding problem in Democratic politics: Their donors are far more inclined to invest in candidates running for Congress or president than they are in those running for state office.

"It is extremely challenging for us to get national donors to pay attention to governor's races outside of their states," said Peter O'Keefe, a former Democratic Governors Association treasurer who remains involved in the group's fund-raising.

Texas has been a reliably Republican state for decades. President Trump won it by 14 points in 2024. The state's last Democratic governor was Ann Richards, who lost her 1994 re-election bid to George W. Bush.

But Ms. Hinojosa's allies are trying to pressure Mr. Beshear with a host of polls that show her within shouting distance of Mr. Abbott. Staying out of Texas, they say, would damage Mr. Beshear's chances in Nevada and New Mexico, Latino-heavy states that Democrats have put at the front of their presidential nominating calendar in 2028.

"I don't think it's helpful for his politics at all," said Sergio Gonzales, a veteran of Democratic Latino politics who was a senior aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, and who helped organize the letter. "It hurts his politics now, it certainly would hurt any future aspirations that he has for higher office because Latinos are all over this country."

The letter was a follow-up to another sent last month, which made the initial $10 million request.

Asked about the $10 million request from her allies, Ms. Hinojosa said in a text message Wednesday: "That would be great!"