US President Donald Trump took a swipe at Greg Abbott following his election defeat in the Texas gubernatorial race to Democrat Gina Hinojosa, blaming the latter’s “RINO” turn over the last six months for his loss.
“If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. He claimed that Abbott had gone back “to his original formula”, adding that “it wasn’t pretty.”
RINO is an informal term, which stands for “Republican in Name Only”, and is generally used by members of the Republican Party to criticise those they believe are not sufficiently aligned with the party’s conservative leaning. In the midterm election results, Abbott, the Republican incumbent, lost to Hinojosa, who became the first Democratic governor of Texas in over three decades.
The Democrats are set to gain majority in the US Congress following the midterm results, according to CNN’s projection, and have already flipped the US Senate, according to the Associated Press.
Trump’s rebuke comes after he had endorsed and repeatedly praised Abbott, who was one of the most prominent Republican governors and among the steadfast supporters of the US President.
Abbott, who first took office in 2015, was running for a historic fourth term. His campaign was based on a record rooted in conservative economics, border security, energy production, and a growing number of cultural issues. The Republican has been hawkish about his stance on Iran, having declared Texas’ backing for Trump after US military action against Iran began in February. His administration in Texas had faced repeated scrutiny over aggressive immigration and border policies, abortion restrictions, education rules and fights over local authority.
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Hinojosa to become Texas’ first Latina governor
52-year-old Hinojosa will become Texas’ first Latina governor and the first Democrat to hold the office since Ann Richards in the 1990s.
She engineered a populist challenge, launching criticism against artificial intelligence data centers and corruption to defeat Abbott. She started her campaign last year, and accused Abbott of prioritising the wealthy over common people. One of Hinojosa’s earliest campaign pledges was a one-time $1,500 payment to each of the state’s nearly 32 million residents that she called a “Corruption Tax Refund.”
The Democrat undertook the gubernatorial race in Texas with little money or recognition. Her victory came as a surprise, given that there was no significant support from the national party for her campaign, according to AP. Hinojosa’s campaign also managed to counter and successfully trounce Abbott, whose campaign had spent $180 million since last year in what they thought to be a safe path to a fourth term.