Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in Tuesday’s midterms, making her the first Democratic governor of Texas since 1990 and the first Latina to hold the office. The Austin state legislator, 52, ran a campaign centered on public education, concerns about data centers, and lowering costs for families, and she pulled it off despite being outspent by Abbott. At her first news conference, she pledged to build a bipartisan administration and said she will be the governor for all Texans, not just Democrats.

The political map around her has shifted too. Democrat James Talarico flipped a U.S. Senate seat in the same wave, and Republicans lost the Texas House while keeping control of the Senate. That split Legislature means Hinojosa’s agenda will need compromise to pass. One early sign of that approach: she named a former rural Republican lawmaker who opposed school vouchers to her transition team.

For Waxahachie, the stakes are local. School funding, rules around data centers spreading across Ellis County farmland, and utility costs are all on the table at the state level. A Democrat winning the governor’s office in a state where President Trump carried Texas by double digits in 2024 signals a real shift, and how it plays out will shape the fastest-growing corners of North Texas. What issue would you want the new governor to tackle first?