Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa hasn't even been sworn in yet, but she's already promising to remove outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott's designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a terrorist organization.
"We have to use public safety measures for public safety," Hinojosa told the outlet, dismissing what she called "nonsense happening with power that should be used for public safety."
Nonsense. That's how the incoming governor of the second-largest state in the union describes treating a group with CAIR's track record as a threat.
BREAKING: Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa to REMOVE Greg Abbott’s designation of CAIR as a terrorist organization https://t.co/HvpJPID5Sy
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 15, 2026
The Post billed the interview as Hinojosa vowing to "trade GOP culture wars for moderation." Abbott and Texas Republicans spent the campaign warning that she was a closet radical. That didn't take long.
To refresh everyone's memory, Abbott designated both CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations last November. As RedState's Mike Miller reported at the time, the order barred both groups from acquiring any real property in Texas.
Abbott didn't mince words with his declaration.
"The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam's 'mastership of the world,'" he said.
He went on to say the groups' actions "to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable."
Less than a week after Abbott's order, President Trump followed Abbott's lead with an executive order starting the process of designating certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations.
This isn't some fringe smear, either. In the Holy Land Foundation case of 2008, the largest terrorism-financing trial in U.S. history, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a scheme to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas. CAIR calls itself a civil rights group. It sued Abbott over the designation.
And now, the new governor is apparently ready to make that whole lawsuit moot.
🚨 JUST IN: Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa (D) intends to UNDO Greg Abbott's terrorist designation of CAIR — WaPo SHE IS CODDLING ISLAMISTS! This would make Florida the ONLY state in the nation that's designated CAIR like this. CAIR even SUSPENDED operations in FL CAIR backed her campaign. She is now paying them back. Texas must not fall to Islam!
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 14, 2026
Embedded tweet continues:
... backed her campaign. She is now paying them back. Texas must not fall to Islam!
Three weeks after Abbott's order, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations under Florida law. If Hinojosa follows through, the Sunshine State could be left standing alone.
Hinojosa wants to sell herself as a moderate. She told the Post she agrees with President Trump on the need for border security. But a moderate doesn't make lifting a terror label one of the first things she promises to do.
Texans were warned. This is only a preview of things to come. Elections, as they say, have consequences, y'all.
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