ACLU is civil-liberties-absolutist on speech, church-state, criminal-justice, immigrants' rights, anti-surveillance, reproductive, and LGBTQ rights151 — and Abbott has signed and defended SB 10, SB 11, SB 763, SB 12, SB 14, SB 15, HB 900, HB 1927, SB 8, SB 4, Operation Lone Star, and SB 17. Hinojosa has voted against essentially each and her HB 73 gay/trans-panic-defense ban is an ACLU-aligned positive. ACLU-Texas has sued the state on multiple bills. Hinojosa is the substantially better ACLU fit.
Issue
Abbott
Hinojosa
Ten Commandments in schools (SB 10)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU treats mandated religious display as a core Establishment Clause violation; Abbott signed and defended SB 1044, Hinojosa voted against it.
School prayer (SB 11)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU opposes state-sponsored school prayer; Abbott signed SB 11 and Hinojosa voted no.
School chaplains (SB 763)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU opposes uncertified chaplains as counselors on church-state grounds; Abbott signed SB 763 and Hinojosa voted no.
LGBTQ-club and pronoun ban (SB 12)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU treats school LGBTQ-club bans and forced-pronoun policies as speech and equal-protection violations; Abbott signed SB 1296, Hinojosa voted against.
Trans youth care ban (SB 14)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU has litigated against SB 14 as a medical-care equal-protection violation; Abbott signed it93 and Hinojosa voted against.
Trans athlete ban (SB 15)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU opposes categorical trans-athlete exclusion; Abbott signed SB 15 and Hinojosa voted no.
READER Act book ratings (HB 900)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU treats state-mandated book-rating regimes as content-based speech regulation; Abbott signed HB 900 and Hinojosa voted against.
Permitless carry (HB 1927)
Hurts
—
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: —
ACLU has criticized permitless carry for its disparate enforcement and civil-liberties risk in police encounters; Abbott signed HB 1927. Hinojosa was not in the legislature for that vote but her gun-safety posture aligns with ACLU.1
Abortion ban (SB 8)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU litigated against SB 8's civilian-enforcement private right of action; Abbott signed it and Hinojosa voted no.
State immigration enforcement (SB 4)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU treats state immigration arrest authority as preempted and racially discriminatory; Abbott signed SB 464 and Hinojosa voted no.
Operation Lone Star
Hurts
—
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: —
ACLU has documented Operation Lone Star's civil-liberties harms including warrantless detention and trespass-prosecution targeting; Abbott directs the operation. Hinojosa opposes its scale and enforcement model.1
Foreign-land ownership (SB 17)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU opposes national-origin land-ownership bans as equal-protection violations; Abbott signed SB 17 and Hinojosa voted against.
Gay/trans-panic-defense ban (HB 73)
—
Helps
Abbott: — · Hinojosa: Helps
ACLU treats banning the gay/trans-panic legal defense as a core LGBTQ-rights priority; Hinojosa authored HB 73. Abbott has not endorsed banning the defense and is not a factor on this strand.
Sources
- Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor, official campaign priorities page, accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Texas Tribune, 'Ten Commandments in Texas schools: SB 10 explained,' May 24, 2025. (full list)
- CBS News, 'Texas immigration law SB 4, making illegal entry a state crime, signed by Greg Abbott,' Dec. 2023. (full list)
- Eleanor Klibanoff, 'Texas bans gender-affirming care for trans minors,' Texas Tribune, June 2, 2023. (full list)
- Texas AFT, 'SB 12, the Parents Bill of Rights, deep dive,' 2025 — pronoun, DEI, and GSA provisions. (full list)
- American Civil Liberties Union: civil-liberties absolutist; church-state separation, criminal-justice reform, immigrants' rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights. (full list)