President Donald Trump attacked Texas Governor Greg Abbott as a “Republican in name only” after Abbott lost his reelection bid to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
Trump posted the criticism on Truth Social on Tuesday night, shortly after Abbott, a longtime ally of the president, conceded.
President Donald J. Trump greets Ambassadors David Perdue and Xie Feng, Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi at Beijing Capital International Airport, China on Friday, May 15, 2025, before boarding Air Force One en route Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at a Military Mothers’ Day event, Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)
Earlier that day, Trump had reiterated his support for the three-term governor and described him as strong and highly respected.
Hinojosa’s victory ended Abbott’s attempt to win a fourth term and made her Texas’ first Latina governor and the Democratic Party’s first Texas governor in more than three decades.
A Historic Defeat
Abbott conceded after reviewing returns across the state and said he had called Hinojosa and pledged to help her transition into office.
The governor first took office in 2015 and had won his previous three gubernatorial elections by double-digit margins. Abbott’s smallest margin of victory came four years ago, when he defeated Democrat Beto O’Rourke by almost 11 percentage points.
However, Republican dominance ended last night with Hinojosa leading Abbott by more than seven percentage points as of 8 a.m. CST with 96% of the votes counted.
She will become the first Democrat to hold the office since Ann Richards, who lost reelection to George W. Bush in 1994.
Trump’s RINO Remark
Abbott was one of the first Republicans the president attacked in a Truth Social post late Tuesday.
“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 wrote. “He went back to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty!”
Trump had previously described Abbott as an “exceptional governor and man” when endorsing him in February.
In a social media post earlier this week, Trump urged Texan voters to “get out and vote for these great patriots,” which included Abbott among a list of Republican candidates in the state. “They have my complete and total endorsement and will never let you down,” he added.
A Lesson in Politics
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s election, Hinojosa, an Austin state representative and former school board president, campaigned on affordability, public education and reducing corporate influence in state government. She criticized the expansion of data centers and argued that Abbott had prioritized wealthy interests over ordinary Texans.
Abbott countered by promoting economic growth and property tax reductions while portraying Hinojosa as a high-tax progressive.
His campaign also attacked her positions on transgender issues.
Hinojosa sought to avoid those cultural disputes and present a broader populist appeal, including advertisements featuring Republican supporters.
She also used her background in education as a key campaign point, opposing the school voucher program and using frustration over state takeovers of school districts to challenge Abbott’s record.
Abbott’s successful effort to remove Republican lawmakers who opposed vouchers had, according to the Texas Tribune, frustrated some rural Republicans.
The Blame Game Begins
Divisions have already begun to emerge within the Republican Party as to where the blame lies for an extremely difficult election.
Bobby Charles, the defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maine, told Politico: “It sounds a little ironic, but I am nevertheless optimistic for the future because Trump’s going to be gone in two years.” Other criticism remained anonymous.
A senior Senate Republican official rejected candidate quality as an adequate explanation for the scale of the defeat and blamed Trump.
The White House did not immediately respond to Politico’s request for comment.
The president was critical of some Republicans on the ballot, telling the Wall Street Journal that some candidates “could have been better.”
“Some of them had a lot of flaws, and obviously they were not acceptable to the voters,” Trump said. “You know, you can only do so much.”
Several candidates won their primaries in part due to Trump’s insistence, including Abbott’s fellow Texan and state attorney general Ken Paxton, who lost to Democrat James Talarico in the state’s Senate election. Trump said Paxton had “worked hard” during his campaign in his interview with the Journal.
While Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz blamed the GOP’s poor election performance on “uninspiring, lazy, and thoroughly ineffective communicators,” the president said his decision to go to war was partly to blame for Republican losses. Nevertheless, it was a decision he stood by, adding: “I don’t think about it. I did the right thing. I would have done it again.”
About the Author: Shay Bottomley
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist. He has written for the Western Standard, Business Insider, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo.
