Earlier this year, Gina Hinojosa found herself having tacos with former President Barack Obama and fellow Texas Democrat James Talarico as part of a campaign event.
"The owner of the restaurant didn't even know that he was coming. … Nobody knew. We were sworn to secrecy," she said.
Talarico's order of potato, egg and cheese tacos generated a national conversation. His order became subject to online scrutiny, eventually making headlines.
"My explanation of James' taco order is that's the right taco for Central Texas," Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa's explanation was simple: The right taco depends on where you are. In the Rio Grande Valley, she said, the order would be different. "You would get barbacoa. ... In San Antonio, you would add a Big Red. In El Paso, maybe you'd have something with chile colorado," she said.
Hinojosa says the diversity of Texans' taco orders is reflective of the different communities across the state. She's seen this firsthand while traveling across Texas on her gubernatorial campaign.
"Running for governor of Texas is like running for president," Hinojosa said. "It is such a lot of territory to cover. The diversity is huge."
Hinojosa has represented Texas House District 49 since 2017. Her district encompasses Central Austin, including the University of Texas.
In the latest episode of the Tacos of Texas podcast, Hinojosa sat down with host Mando Rayo at his home studio to talk about growing up in South Texas, her family and food memories, her path from mom to politician and why she's challenging Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in the November election.
The podcast invited Abbott to come on the show but he did not respond.
'No te dejes'
Hinojosa's own taco choice is similarly rooted in place and memory. "It depends not only where I am, but what restaurant I'm at, right?" she said.
The morning of her interview, she had eaten something much simpler. "I had tortilla con aguacate," — or avocado — Hinojosa said. "That's what I grew up on. That's what my grandmother used to always make me."
It is, she said, the kind of food that takes her straight back to childhood. "To me, that's like the homiest taco. It just reminds me of being a kid."
For Hinojosa, politics begins with food, family and an expression: "No te dejes."
She heard the expression from her grandmother growing up in the Rio Grande Valley. While there is no perfect translation, Hinojosa has spoken with other Spanish speakers about how best to convey the idea in English.
"What I think it means is to know your worth and defend it," Hinojosa said. "Or fight back, right? That's the closest English translation I could come up with."
The phrase has followed Hinojosa from her childhood in South Texas to the Texas House and now to her campaign for governor. It's a message that appears in campaign speeches, stickers, T-shirts and signs.
She said the phrase has shaped her sense of responsibility.
"It was that lesson of always telling me, know your worth and defend it," Hinojosa said. "That made me who I am and made me understand my responsibility to fight and my responsibility to stand up against what I think is wrong."
'I never wanted to run for anything'
Hinojosa's path brought her from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin and the University of Texas, where she earned her undergraduate degree. She later attended George Washington University Law School and began a career as a civil rights and labor attorney.
She didn't plan on getting involved in politics.
"I never wanted to run for anything," Hinojosa said. "I'm a mom. I got mad because my son's school was shutting down."
When her son was old enough to start kindergarten she enrolled him at Pease Elementary. She fell in love with the school.
"I remember when I first visited it, I thought, 'This school's like Sesame Street," Hinojosa said. "It was small, it was downtown. ... People from all sorts of families were part of that school. And the teachers wanted to be there. And I loved it."
Then, the school was threatened with closure. "I just got mad and I ran for the school board," she said. "I won and we saved schools."
At the time, multiple Austin schools were facing closure. "We saved them. We didn't shut down any schools," Hinojosa said.
After serving on the Austin ISD school board, Hinojosa ran for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives and won. Then, after nearly a decade in the Legislature, she decided to run for governor.
Hinojosa describes her gubernatorial campaign as an extension of the fight that began when she ran for school board in Austin. For Hinojosa, public education is at the center of everything.
"When I ran for school board it was because my own kid's school was shutting down," she said, "now there are hundreds … of schools in Texas being shut down." She calls her platform the American dream agenda, which focuses on strengthening public education, lowering utility costs and ensuring children have access to healthcare.
A Latina governor
If elected in November, Hinojosa would make history as the first Latina to hold the office of governor in Texas.
But she says her own upbringing never made the idea of a Latina governor seem unusual.
"Because I grew up in the Valley, I never saw myself as a minority growing up," Hinojosa said. "Everybody's brown."
For Hinojosa, representation at the highest levels of state government feels less like a radical departure than a reflection of the state she already knows.
"To me, it is natural and normal that there would be a Latina governor for Texas. We are a huge part of the population," she said.
Her answer to the question of whether Texas is ready is straightforward: "Why not?"
On Election Day 2026, Hinojosa says she'll head to Polvos for breakfast.
"I'm going to have huevo con nopal," she said. "It's not on the menu, but they got it. And café con canela. They have a good café con canela."
That sense of belonging is precisely what makes it feel like home.
Check out the full conversation with Gina Hinojosa on the Tacos of Texas podcast.
Copyright 2026 KUT News
