Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear hoped that serving as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association this midterm year would raise his profile and connections ahead of his expected run for president in 2028. But it has also created an opportunity to ramp up pressure on him, with frustrations coming to light this week when several Texas Democratic members of Congress and national group leaders accused him of putting his book tour and potential 2028 activity ahead of helping Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa. to win the race for governor of Texas. At stake is national money going into Hinojosa’s underfunded and underdog race against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, once considered nearly unbeatable. The latest New York Times/Siena poll finds no clear leader in the race, with Hinojosa ahead by four points, within the margin of sampling error. Hinojosa and his allies began asking for $10 million from Beshear and the Democratic Governors Association, although they have since lowered the rating to $3 million. Just this week the DGA announced plans to put $1 million into the race, with the possibility, but no promise, of adding more. “I just felt like he wasn’t taking Latinos seriously, and they weren’t taking Latinos seriously as a voting bloc in the Democratic Party,” Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia said of Beshear. “And if that’s the case, then you’re going to have a Latino problem in 2028.” Beshear’s advisers not only reject the allegations; They bristle at what they see as an unfair effort to publicly humiliate Beshear, with one person familiar with internal DGA conversations telling CNN that their polls have Hinojosa down by 5 points, even though another person familiar with the matter says the campaign’s own polls have her within the margin of error. “It’s a tough argument that money should go there when many other candidates are tied or ahead in states much cheaper than Texas,” a person familiar with the DGA talks told CNN. What’s happening isn’t just about Beshear or Texas, though. It is Latino leaders who are testing how they can, and how they will, flex the political influence of one of the country’s largest but often overlooked electoral blocs, and which is once again proving to be one of its most swingy this year. “We can’t just think about the importance of this race in the context of this moment, but rather what it will mean, could and should mean for 2028,” Rep. Verónica Escobar said in a Zoom meeting with DGA officials that Beshear did not attend. Escobar argued that a Hinojosa victory would indicate that Texas – which has 40 electoral votes – can be competitive in a presidential election for the first time in decades. On the call, DGA Executive Director Meghan Meehan-Draper said several times that the organization believes in Hinojosa’s campaign, blaming the vagaries of campaign finance law and scarce funding nationwide for not investing more in Texas. While both things are true, the DGA is also working on its own surveys that are fueling its doubts. “Their complete mishandling of this and their complete lack of respect for us has been absolutely astonishing,” said Jess Morales Rocketto, president and CEO of the Latino group Maremoto, when called to speak. Juan Proaño, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said he was surprised by the tone of what he heard on the call. Beshear, Proaño told CNN, is “doing the best he can given the environment we find ourselves in,” adding that he is pleased with the governor’s broadest Latino outreach yet. Of the DGA officials who participated in the call, Proaño said, “I will take them at their word that they will try to do more, but I am also realistic about the limitations that exist, which are much broader than those in Texas.” Beshear, through his aides, declined an interview request. His aides did provide a statement from New Mexico Gov. Michelle Luján Grisham, the only current Latina governor in the country, urging not to fight infighting. “I have worked closely with Governor Beshear, Democratic governors and the DGA to invest in Hispanic communities across the country and raise money so Gina’s campaign can get its message to voters,” said Luján Grisham. Tom Perez told CNN that he remembers conversations like these when he was chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2018 midterms. “As someone leading a party committee during a tailwind year, we had a size 12 opportunity set in 2018 and we had a size 10 budget,” Perez said. “I think there’s a size 14 opportunity set in the context of the gubernatorial race in 2026, and they’re doing everything they can to spread the wealth.” Perez, of Dominican descent, said Beshear’s work as governor with Latinos in rural communities in Kentucky and in Louisville undermines the political accusations being made now: “His record speaks for itself.” The DGA fights back and receives help from JB Pritzker. A DGA aide pointed to investments of more than $1 million in Texas to pay for some expenses and staff on the ground, in addition to the $25,000 that Beshear contributed to Hinojosa’s campaign through his own PAC. The aide also pointed to DGA money flowing into gubernatorial races in Arizona and Nevada, much of it focused on Latino and Spanish-language voters. Those two races, with Arizona’s Democratic governor running for a second term and Democrats trying to unseat the first-term Republican incumbent in Nevada, currently appear higher in play for the DGA than Texas. The DGA agent also noted that Beshear already made other calls to national donors trying to bring more money to Texas, but was told no. In a direct call last week with Hinojosa, Beshear said money was missing, but he was going to find $1 million for her. On the call, several offered to provide Beshear with the names of donors they had been talking to about raising more money for Texas. A Beshear aide offered to take the list to the governor but did not commit to making the calls. They followed up with an updated list of national and Texas donors for Beshear’s team. Beshear managed to appeal to one of the organization’s most trusted billionaire donors, who is also the governor of Illinois and who is also taking steps toward a presidential run in 2028: JB Pritzker. Beshear had a phone call with Pritzker asking for more money, and the Illinois governor later pledged another $1 million, according to a person familiar with the call. Although that money was not intended for Texas, he did put the same amount of money into the DGA fund that Beshear later sent to Texas, and which Pritzker then essentially doubled by announcing he would give $1.2 million to Hinojosa personally. “This race is winnable; it’s time for chivalry,” Pritzker said in a call with some of the same Latino members of the Texas House of Representatives earlier this week, informing them of his direct donation. That’s still less than the $5 million Pritzker gave the DGA in the 2022 cycle, partly a reflection of his push for the organization to be more aggressive in its response to Trump’s second term. A harsh national shift among Latino voters away from Trump and better-than-expected polls from Hinojosa and Senate candidate James Talarico have fueled dreams of new victories in the Lone Star State in 2026 and 2028, at the local and district levels, as well as the state and national level. The last two years, in which many felt attacked by Trump, have increased how committed Hinojosa’s supporters are to his candidacy. “Gina is what unlocks the hate that our entire community feels nationally,” said Alida García of the group Twin Impact toward the end of the call, becoming emotional. “Texas sets the tone for our bad: our community is treated everywhere in the country, so having Gina there changes the whole tone for us.” Hinojosa’s campaign remains diplomatic as the start of early voting approaches, and a spokeswoman told CNN she appreciates all the help so far. “We are grateful for the support we have received in this final stretch from leaders across the country and, above all, from Texans who are ready for change after 12 years of Greg Abbott,” said Hinojosa campaign spokesman Tommy Kubitschek.
