Greg Abbott's first TV ad against his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, is a big one. His campaign is spending $12 million to run it across Texas. The claim is simple: "Hinojosa will make your property taxes go even higher because in the legislature, Hinojosa voted to do just that, not once, not twice, 40 different times."
The Houston Chronicle checked the 40 votes. Its finding: "Hinojosa never directly voted to 'make your property taxes go even higher.'"
What the 40 votes actually were
Abbott's campaign handed over its list. The 40 votes weren't 40 tax increases. They were votes on just seven Republican bills, from 2017 to 2025, plus amendments and procedural votes on those same bills. One 2017 bill alone accounts for 15 of the 40. Another from 2019 accounts for 11.
Every one of the seven bills was about limiting what cities, counties and school districts could do. None of them raised a tax:
- 2017 and 2019: bills to cap how much more property tax revenue cities and counties could collect each year. Hinojosa voted against them, warning the 2019 version could put school funding at risk. Several Republicans also opposed the 2017 bill.
- 2021: a bill counting more kinds of local debt against those caps. Hinojosa supported the House version, which had carve-outs for cities, and voted against the final version after the Senate stripped them out.
- 2025: a bill to lower the cap even further. Several Republicans opposed it too. Fire and police chiefs testified it would endanger public safety.
- 2025: two bills limiting how cities, counties and schools could raise rates after a disaster. A Galveston official called the disaster exception a "critical, critical safety net," since it took the city five years to recover after Hurricane Ike.
- 2025: a bill making it harder for local governments to pay off debt early.
Voting against a limit on local governments is not voting to raise your taxes. At most, it's a vote to let local officials, who answer to local voters, decide. "I never voted to raise taxes. I voted to defend local control, especially during an emergency," Hinojosa said.
The Chronicle also noted that Hinojosa supported the 2025 increase in the homestead exemption to $140,000, which lowered property tax bills for most homeowners. The ad leaves that out.
Abbott's own ad says it
Here's the part that sinks the attack. The Texas Legislature doesn't levy property taxes. Counties, cities and school districts do.
Abbott knows that. He's running a second TV ad about "wasteful local spending," and in it he tells a room full of people: "The state of Texas does not impose the property tax. Only local governments impose property taxes."
A state lawmaker can't vote to raise a tax the state doesn't impose. Abbott is telling voters that in one ad and saying the opposite in another.
Abbott's record on property taxes
Property taxes are the centerpiece of Abbott's campaign for a record fourth term. He takes credit for delivering historic property tax relief. We've looked at the results: Abbott signed what he called the "largest property tax cut in Texas history," and over his time as governor Texans' property tax bills went from $51 billion to $89 billion.
After more than a decade in the governor's office, Abbott is running his biggest property-tax ad against someone who has never been governor.
What we know
Greg Abbott is spending $12 million on an ad saying Gina Hinojosa "voted to" raise property taxes 40 times. The Houston Chronicle found she never directly did. The 40 votes were votes on seven Republican bills that limited local governments, and on amendments to them, and she also supported raising the homestead exemption. Abbott's own second ad says the state "does not impose the property tax."
Source
Greg Abbott ad says Gina Hinojosa voted 40 times to raise property taxes. Is that true? — Houston Chronicle, via Yahoo News. Photo: Smiley N. Pool / Dallas Morning News; Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle.
