Gina Hinojosa Predicted Texas Governor Bid in Yearbook 34 Years Ago

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More than three decades before defeating Republican Greg Abbott and returning Democrats to the Texas governor's mansion for the first time since Ann Richards, Brownsville high…

More than three decades before defeating Republican Greg Abbott and returning Democrats to the Texas governor's mansion for the first time since Ann Richards, Brownsville high school senior Gina Hinojosa was already imagining her own campaign for the state's highest office.

A quote published in Hinojosa's 1992 Homer Hanna High School yearbook foreshadowed her political path.

"In ten years I will establish my career in a prominent law firm while strategizing my campaign for the next Texas gubernatorial elections after having Governor Ann Richards' endorsement," the yearbook entry from Hinojosa reads.

Newsweek reached out to Hinojosa's campaign and the Brownsville Independent School District, which provided the yearbook pages.

When Hinojosa wrote the yearbook entry, Richards was at the height of her political power. The silver-haired governor had captivated Democrats with a blend of humor, swagger and political fearlessness, becoming one of the most prominent female politicians in a state whose top offices had long been dominated by men. For Hinojosa and other young Texans, Richards symbolized what seemed possible.

"Talk about a woman who has known what she wanted for a very long time. It was not an accident," Valerie Martinez-Ebers, a distinguished research professor of political science at the University of North Texas, told Newsweek. "Ann Richards was a role model, of course, for Gina. For every girl our age now, Ann Richards was a role model."

Known for speaking her mind, sharp political instincts and quick wit, Richards became one of Texas' most recognizable political figures. At a time when women rarely occupied the highest levels of Texas government, she showed a generation of aspiring leaders, like Hinojosa, that the governor's mansion was not beyond their reach, Martinez-Ebers told Newsweek.

Richards's keynote speech to the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta brought her national attention when she said of the wealthy, then vice president of the United…

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