Escalation: Voters nominate Abbott and Hinojosa

Gov. Greg Abbott clinched the Republican nomination with about 82% of the vote after fending off 10 challengers. Early returns had him near 83% with roughly a third of the vote counted. State Rep. Gina Hinojosa won the Democratic primary with about 60% in a nine-candidate field, after early tallies put her around 58% with just over a quarter counted. Both now advance to the November governor’s race.

Abbott told supporters in Austin to brace for a hard fight to November, casting the coming contest as one of common sense versus chaos. At her watch party in San Antonio, Hinojosa called him the “mordida” governor, using the Spanish slang for a bribe. Abbott is now bidding for a record fourth four-year term as governor.

AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources