Abbott Campaigns in El Paso and Issues a Flood Disaster Declaration for El Paso County
At a packed get-out-the-vote event Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a state disaster declaration after Horizon City-area flooding damaged at least 60 homes — and traded attacks with Gina Hinojosa over data centers, donors and immigration in a governor's race two polls show within three points.
Gov. Greg Abbott brought his re-election campaign to El Paso on Thursday, October 29, speaking to more than 250 supporters at a get-out-the-vote event at Rosa's Cantina on Doniphan Drive, according to the El Paso Times' report, read in full this cycle. Abbott is facing Democrat Gina Hinojosa in the governor's race; Hinojosa had campaigned in El Paso the day before, on Wednesday, challenging Abbott over his connections to billionaire donors. Early voting ends Friday, October 30, and Election Day is November 3; Abbott previously visited El Paso in February and August.
The governor began the event by announcing he had issued a state disaster declaration for El Paso County after heavy rain and flooding near Horizon City on Monday, October 26 led to evacuations, water damage and other problems in at least 60 homes. Abbott told the crowd more than 50 homes had been damaged or washed away. Under the declaration, the Texas Division of Emergency Management will deploy state emergency response resources, and affected Texans are urged to report damage through TDEM's Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool at damage.tdem.texas.gov. The state declaration follows El Paso County's own disaster declaration on Tuesday, October 27.
On the campaign argument, Abbott attacked Hinojosa over immigration enforcement and taxes and defended his record on data centers, saying he had put a halt on new data center permits pending the comprehensive PUCT and ERCOT audit he ordered in August — a sharp pivot, the Times notes, from his earlier declaration that Texas was the epicenter of AI development. He also dismissed Hinojosa's lawsuit seeking his office's emails with Elon Musk as a sham, noting the office had produced some 1,400 pages and that an appellate court had halted the release order. Two recent polls show a close race: a Texas Public Opinion Research poll released October 23 had Abbott at 51 percent to Hinojosa's 48, and a Fox News poll released October 21 had Abbott at 49 to Hinojosa's 46, with 2 percent for Libertarian Pat Dixon.
