Texas Democratic Party chair steps down after dismal election performance

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa announced his resignation Friday on the heels of another election cycle in which his party suffered blowout losses atop the ticket and vastly underperformed expectations.

In a statement acknowledging Democrats’ “devastating defeats up and down the ballot,” Hinojosa announced he would step down in March when the party’s governing executive committee is scheduled to meet.

“In the days and weeks to come, it is imperative that our Democratic leaders across the country reevaluate what is best for our party and embrace the next generation of leaders to take us through the next four years of Trump and win back seats up and down the ballot,” Hinojosa said, calling on Democratic leaders “at all levels to join me in lifting up the next generation in order to unite our party.”

In the months leading up to Tuesday’s election, Hinojosa and other party leaders promoted Texas as a competitive state where Democratic candidates had a real shot of winning a statewide race for the first time since 1994. Instead, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump carried the state by nearly 14 percentage points and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeated his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, by nearly 9 points. Democrats also lost three seats in the Texas Legislature and nearly every contested state appellate court race, and saw Republicans win 10 countywide judicial races in Harris County — reversing several years of Democratic dominance in Texas’ largest county.

Republicans also set a high-water mark among Latino voters, with Trump capturing 55% of the key voting bloc statewide, according to exit polls. He carried all four counties in the traditionally deep-blue Rio Grande Valley, including Cameron County, where Hinojosa previously served as county judge.

In an interview with The Texas Newsroom this week, Hinojosa said Democrats’ poor performance was in part a result of the way they handled the issue of transgender rights — comments that stirred backlash from party members and LGBTQ advocates.

“You have a choice as a party," Hinojosa said. "You could, for example, you can support transgender rights up and down all the categories where the issue comes up, or you can understand that there's certain things that we just go too far on, that a big bulk of our population does not support."

Hinojosa later apologized for the comments, saying he recognized “the pain and frustration” my words have caused.

Hinojosa’s departure comes in the middle of a four-year term that began when he was reelected at the 2022 Texas Democratic Convention. His successor will be selected by the party’s governing executive committee and will serve out the remainder of Hinojosa’s term, according to the state party rules.

Shay Wyrick-Cathey, the party vice chair, announced Friday she would run to succeed Hinojosa. In a statement, Wyrick-Cathey said she and Hinojosa "have not agreed on every issue, but he never made that a prerequisite for the two of us working together."

Also in the mix is Kim Olson, Hinojosa's top challenger in 2022 and a former statewide and congressional candidate. She was being encouraged to run by some donors and party activists after Hinojosa's announcement, according to a Democratic source familiar with the conversations.

The contentious 2022 chair election served as a referendum on Hinojosa’s tenure since he took over leadership of the state party in 2012. He won another term by arguing that he had grown the party immensely and helped bring Democrats within striking distance of statewide office in 2018, putting them in position to soon break through. But the race was made competitive as Hinojosa’s challengers promised to improve the party’s infrastructure while tapping into frustrations about Democrats’ disappointing 2020 election performance — which has since been followed by decisive losses in 2022 and 2024.

Hinojosa has drawn criticism especially for offering overly rosy projections. At the Democratic National Convention in August, Hinojosa referred to Texas as “the nation’s biggest battleground state” as he announced Texas would deliver its delegates for Vice President Kamala Harris.