By Juli McShay
Forward Times
https://www.forwardtimes.com/
Photography by Medron White
The candidate for Texas governor joined Juli McShay and community members inside the newspaper’s historic office for a candid discussion of schools, HBCUs, healthcare and the cost of living.
Securing an interview is not the hardest part of my work these days. I’ve built a reputation for asking strong, fair questions and getting past a candidate’s prepared answer to understand their principles and their why. I’ve done that with many Texans over the years.
But something different happened last Tuesday at the Forward Times.
I’ve interviewed Gina Hinojosa several times this year. We’ve grown comfortable with one another, and I’ve grown fond of her and her campaign for governor. It’s no secret: I am on Team Gina. That doesn’t relieve me of my responsibility to readers. It makes asking good questions, and being transparent about where I stand, even more important.
This time, I wanted to bring an audience into the conversation. I wanted Hinojosa to see the history of the Forward Times and meet a room that reflected the Black communities whose support she is asking for. And I wanted the people in that room to hear her answers for themselves. In many ways, this was as much a test as it was an interview.
I did not want another political gathering filled with elected officials and campaign staffers. I wanted entrepreneurs, business owners, retirees, thought leaders, neighbors and a sprinkle of content creators. I wanted people from different professions and walks of life. And I made a particular point of inviting Black men.
At so many political events I attend, the Black men present are elected officials or campaign operatives. Last Tuesday, they showed up as members of the community. People noticed. I noticed. Their presence mattered because the conversation would leave the room with them, reaching their families, friends and the communities that trust them.
Very few of our guests had seen Hinojosa in person. Some had only recently become curious about her. I didn’t want them to support her because I do. I wanted her to make her own case.
Before she did, Hinojosa walked through the Forward Times press room with Publisher Karen Carter Richards and her daughter, Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Lenora Small. I stepped back as Small showed her the massive printing equipment and told her about the family behind it.
Small spoke about her grandparents, Julius P. Carter, who founded the newspaper in 1960, and Lenora “Doll” Carter, who carried it forward after his sudden death in 1971. As Hinojosa looked at the presses and asked questions, I watched her face. I wanted to know whether she understood the history of the place and the community she was about to address.
Vincent Powell of 7972 Films, Assistant Professor and Faculty Lead for Virtual Production at Texas Southern University’s School of Communication, brought TSU RTF and JOUR students to help turn our office into a studio. There were multiple camera angles, lighting and sound. I had never hosted a conversation with a production quite like it. Seeing those students at work inside the Forward Times brought another generation into the story of that day.
At 1:36 p.m., we made our way to our seats. Every chair was filled, and people were standing. The applause was beautiful. We laughed about how comfortable the chairs were, and some of the formality disappeared. Her shoulders relaxed. Her joy felt natural. For a moment, it felt like two ladies sitting around the house having a conversation, except this time the community had a seat.
I was still observing. The professor in me was studying the test taker.
We began with public education and the state takeover of HISD. Hinojosa said she would replace Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath with an educator and pledged to return control of HISD to Houston. She criticized the state’s school accountability system and argued that struggling schools need their parents and communities brought closer, not pushed out.
“When schools and school districts are struggling, that is not the time to cut off community,” she said. “That is the time to bring parents in, bring communities in to help solve the problems for our public schools.”
Then I took a turn that was not on my cards: historically Black colleges and universities. I asked about the legacy and funding of Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University, as well as smaller HBCUs across Texas.
For Hinojosa and me, it was a return to our first interview on a quiet rooftop in East Downtown. I had pressed her on HBCUs then, too. Where she had an answer, she gave it. Where she needed to learn more, she said so. I respected that. Too often, a candidate will try to cover a gap with fluff. Hinojosa didn’t.
This time, she told us she had visited Prairie View A&M the day before. She spoke about a student she met there who had built a sizable online following but struggled to express hope for his future. To Hinojosa, that conversation underscored what the state owes young people who are doing the work and still fear what comes next.
On funding, Hinojosa said HBCUs need boards of regents who understand their legacies and that the institutions should be “fully funded.” She also discussed the possibility of a medical school at Prairie View A&M as a way to expand opportunity and help address Texas’ shortage of Black doctors. She presented it as an idea worth pursuing, not a program already in place. Her larger point was about the choices Texas makes with its wealth.
“The problem is that those investments aren’t being made into the people,” she said.
That opened the door to a question about Black women’s health. I asked how Texas could build a stronger pipeline of doctors while confronting maternal health disparities. Hinojosa said she supports the idea of a medical school at an HBCU, but she also acknowledged that the state’s abortion restrictions would not disappear simply because a new governor took office.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you I can solve that as governor,” she said. She argued for removing criminal penalties that, in her view, cause doctors to hesitate during pregnancy emergencies. She also called for the state to collect and use data on health disparities. She said she believes there is room to work with a Republican Legislature on measures to save women’s lives.
I appreciated hearing her name what she believes a governor could push for while recognizing what would take more than one election.
We moved to money in Texans’ pockets. Hinojosa proposed reducing the state’s rainy day fund from its current level and using part of the difference to provide $1,500 to each Texas household. I asked the question people would ask at home: How soon would that check arrive?
“I need the Legislature with me to do that,” she answered.
That qualification matters. The payment is a proposal, not something a governor could deliver alone. Hinojosa argued that it would help households under pressure and show Texans that the government they pay for can make their lives easier. She also discussed electricity costs, health insurance denials and property taxes as part of her economic agenda.
I had made sure there were entrepreneurs and small business owners in our audience, so I asked what her administration would do for them. Hinojosa told us about her grandfather’s seed business and the livelihood it provided his family. She contrasted that experience with a system she believes directs tax breaks and incentives toward large corporations.
“What happens if instead of giving those incentives, those property tax breaks to these multinational corporations, we gave them to small businesses instead?” she asked. She spoke about access to capital, health insurance for employees and property tax relief as areas where she wants the state to help. Those are ideas our business owners can listen to, question and measure against what they need.
The conversation also turned to data centers. I asked about their effects on electricity, water and communities across Texas. Hinojosa called for a temporary halt on new projects until the state passes laws protecting residents and workers. She said she does not oppose data centers themselves, but objects to letting projects move forward without those safeguards.
Our final topic was transportation. An audience member had submitted the question days earlier with fingers crossed that I would ask it. I wrestled with the clock, but we made room. Hinojosa said Texas needs to look beyond expanding highways and build better transit connections, including between its major cities. She did not lay out a finished rail plan. She said a governor would need to bring local governments, landowners and the state together to pursue one.
Hinojosa navigated what was on my cards and what came to me in the moment. She was good. She aced the test and grabbed the extra credit, too. That is my assessment. Now I want you to hear the full conversation and decide what you think.
Afterward, Dr. Alexander Brown was one of the few guests who had a chance to speak with her. Brown, a former assistant director of African American Studies at the University of Houston, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, during the civil rights movement. He told Hinojosa plainly what her visit had meant to him.
“It’s been over 30 years since I voted FOR someone to be Governor here in Texas, not since Ann Richards,” he said. “I’ve been voting against candidates for a long time. But you, you are the candidate that I am voting FOR!”
Those are Brown’s words. We invited people into the Forward Times so they could have their own experience with Hinojosa. Through the conversation, you can hear her answers, consider what she proposed and decide for yourself.
WATCH THE FULL CONVERSATION
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