Gina Hinojosa: Because Texas controls 10 percent of seats in Congress, and we know that Republicans in Texas, Republicans in Austin in particular, are coming back next year [with the intention] to redraw congressional maps. And we have every reason to believe—it is almost a guarantee—that when they say they’re going to come back next year to redraw maps, they will.

When they redraw maps, they will likely eliminate five Democrats in Congress. Two years later, with the new Census, we will gain another four to five seats in Texas from other states because we’re growing faster than other states—we’ll take their seats. When that happens, that’s nine to 10 seats that will be off the table for Democrats in Congress if these same Austin Republicans are in charge. And there can be no Democratic control of Congress, likely for a generation, when that happens, because Texas becomes too big. The math no longer works.

That changes if we have a governor in Texas who will veto rigged maps. That is my commitment. I will veto rigged maps, whether they’re rigged for Republicans or Democrats.

LZ: And if you veto it, what happens next? Does it simply go back to the drawing board?

GH: Yes. Absolutely. Or they stop with that nonsense and work to deliver for the people of Texas.

LZ: If Abbott wins another term, are you saying Democrats could effectively lose a path to controlling Congress for a generation?

GH: I think it’s likely one-party control of Congress, likely for a generation.

LZ: Beyond redistricting, what do you think is materially at stake for Texans in this governor’s race?

GH: I’m running on securing the American dream because working Texans are really struggling right now. I am coming across stories of people giving blood, donating plasma as a second job. People who work full-time stand in line at the plasma center before the doors open, before they have to get to their regular job, to give blood two to three times a week just to have enough to pay their bills.

That’s the level of struggle. And it’s not just people in poverty. It is middle-class Texans. This is new.

That is just one story that supports the fact that we have the most uninsured people of any state. We have the most children without health insurance of any state. We have the most people being disconnected from their electricity because they cannot afford to pay their bills. We have the most bankruptcies of any state. Small businesses are really hurting right now, and property taxes have skyrocketed under Greg Abbott.

So the data is there, and I hear the stories all the time on the campaign trail. Is Texas still going to be a state where working people can live and thrive? Is this a state that is by and for the people, or is this just the billionaires’ playground? That’s what this election is about.

LZ: You’ve described a lot of material economic distress, from people donating plasma to pay their bills to health insurance and electricity costs. What are some of the things you’re planning to do about that?

GH: We freeze electricity rates. Make sure that these industries and corporations are paying their fair share, including and especially the data centers, which are expected to drive up our electricity costs by about $600 a year.

And again, just speaking to the fact that we have the worst record in the nation when it comes to health insurance, the next part of that agenda is ensuring every Texas child has quality healthcare. We do that by expanding Medicaid, but we’re not running on expanding Medicaid because normal people don’t know what that means. We’re running on ensuring every Texas child has quality healthcare. If we’re going to get people engaged in the political process, it is important that we speak to people directly, in a way that makes sure they understand what the stakes are. Democrats have not always been great about that.

So when I understood that we could insure every Texas child by expanding Medicaid, it became apparent to me that we needed to run on the result we will accomplish for people, as opposed to the process for getting there. We’re one of the few states to have not expanded Medicaid, and we have terrible results to show for it.

LZ: Zooming out from your own race, what do you think national Democrats still misunderstand about Texas voters?

GH: I think what most national Democrats don’t understand about Texas is how populist Texas is.

For instance, the data-center issue is really driving a lot of political anger right now. It is, I think, the latest example, a physical manifestation, of a governor who has been doing the bidding of special moneyed interests and not the people of Texas.

But it is also mostly angering MAGA Republicans. Not country-club-type Republicans. Not Chamber of Commerce Republicans. It is MAGA that is angry at Republicans right now.

So there is an opportunity for alliances to be forged when we are pursuing a populist agenda. That is the opportunity we are working on with my campaign here in Texas, and I think it is something not many people have clued into.

LZ: Texas Democrats have been saying for years that the state is on the verge of becoming competitive. Why should anyone believe this time is actually different?

GH: The reason we are in play is that people are struggling in a way I’ve never seen before in Texas, in this high-cost economy. And in my race, the best thing we have going for us is the fact that Abbott is a known quantity, and people don’t like him.

That is why he can’t break 50 percent in any poll. He has 98 percent name identification, so people know where to lay the blame for their struggles. They lay it at his feet, and they’re right to do it. He has been there for 12 years. He has been in statewide office for 30 years.

And we have in Texas what we haven’t had in at least 50 years, which is myself and James Talarico running strong races at the top of the ticket, and Democrats running in every state House seat, state Senate seat, and congressional seat. We haven’t had that in at least 50 years.

The result is that I got twice as many votes as Beto got in the primary in 2018, despite the fact that I had eight opponents. It’s because we have people working across the state, in every corner of the state. And people are really motivated right now. They’re angry about this high-cost economy because they understand that incumbents have been doing the bidding of moneyed interests and not the people.

So there is an opportunity in Texas, not because Texans are now Democrats. It is because they are anti–status quo. They are against incumbents, and that creates an opportunity in Texas.

We’re seeing it already in election results. We saw it in Tarrant County, where we flipped a state Senate seat. We saw it in Cy-Fair, where we flipped a school board this year. We saw it in Leander, where we flipped a mayor’s seat, and in Pearland, where we flipped a mayor’s seat. It is happening all over the state already, and it is this desperate desire for change in Texas.

LZ: You said earlier that Abbott has been doing the bidding of “moneyed interests.” What do you mean by “moneyed interests”?

GH: Well, Abbott strong-armed vouchers through the Legislature last year after receiving $12 million from an out-of-state billionaire, Jeff Yass, who has a financial interest in vouchers.

We all pay at least $40 more a month for electricity because, during Winter Storm Uri, gas companies withheld the gas the grid needed until they could make billions of dollars in record profits because the prices were so high. Greg Abbott let them get away with it and decided we would all foot the bill. So we are all now paying for it.

I call it the Greg Abbott corruption tax. It is Greg Abbott doing the bidding of corporate CEOs and not the people of Texas, and we all pay the price.

LZ: I grew up in Texas, so part of me has always felt like this is a place where you first get a sense of political changes, where things start happening before the rest of the country catches up. We just saw other states follow Texas into mid-decade redistricting. If Texas flips seats, helps flip Congress, or elects a Democratic governor for the first time in decades—what changes nationally?

GH: Look, Texas is a ball game. We flip Texas, and it’s over.

There are these very real consequences for redistricting. But once Texas is in play, it changes the political calculus in this whole country. I mean, when you look at the map of congressional seats in the state and electoral votes, it’s Florida, Texas, and California. Most other states are in single digits. We’re going to have something like 42 congressional seats, compared with most other states being in single digits.

It would be a seismic change for this country’s politics.