Gina Hinojosa speaks on data centers, affordability in El Paso campaign visit
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) – Texas State Representative Gina Hinojosa is in El Paso Monday ahead of the November election. She’s running for Texas governor against the incumbent Republican Greg Abbott.
Hinojosa will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. on data centers.
She is also scheduled to meet with UTEP students at 12 p.m. on the issues Texas college students face. The meet-and-greet is only open to UTEP students.
At 6 p.m., she will host a town hall at Firefighters Hall in East El Paso.
In response to Hinojosa’s time in El Paso and her stance on data centera, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s press secretary, Eduardo Leal, provided ABC-7 with this statement affirming his position on the matter, writing the following:
Governor Abbott’s top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life. He has directed Texas regulators to ensure data centers do not take water needed by communities or power needed by the Texas grid, do not disrupt neighborhoods or rural communities, lower electricity costs for consumers, and pay for their own electricity infrastructure. Any project that fails to meet these standards will be denied connection to the Texas grid. He has also called for eliminating data center sales tax breaks. Simply put, data centers must pay their own way, and Texans must come first. Governor Abbott will work with the Texas Legislature to codify these commonsense standards into law.
ABC-7 attended both Hinojosa’s press conference and her meeting with UTEP students, and will also be in attendance for her town hall in East El Paso to hear from both the state representative and concerned residents.
Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, has characterized data centers as the “fight of 2026.”
She joined El Paso residents raising concerns over the impact that technology developments have on local water resources.
Hinojosa stated that local communities should have a legal right to participate in decisions when companies construct facilities in their areas. The issue comes as the city of El Paso has already signed a contract with Meta for a data center project.
Hinojosa argued that community involvement in data center development should be mandatory under state law rather than discretionary.
She questioned the broader direction of state resource management while meeting with local residents. “Is this going to be a Texas that is by and for the people of Texas?” Hinojosa asked.
She emphasized her stance on corporate resource oversight, adding, “it shouldn’t be a request. it should be a requirement of the law.”
Hinojosa also pledged to protect household utility access from corporate consumption if elected.
“I will not tolerate, as governor turning off the water to communities, to households, so that these corporations can come here and guzzle all of it up,” Hinojosa said.
Local residents expressed concern regarding agricultural impacts in the region. De Anne Croucher, an El Paso resident and supporter of Hinojosa, highlighted the strain facing area livestock producers.
“Cattle ranchers can’t afford to grow crops to feed their cattle. They’re dying,” Croucher said.
Croucher also questioned how much authority a governor could exercise over development projects that local municipalities have already finalized, such as El Paso’s existing agreement with Meta.
“I don’t know how she’s going to stop it,” Croucher said. “Unless we can negotiate a new contract with meta about not putting in this data center. I don’t know if that’s possible.”
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Tissiana Anahi Gonzalez (left) and Ryan Emmons (right). (Courtesy: EPCSO)
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