Scoring · Foundational moral figures
Jesus of the Gospels
c. 4 BCE–c. 30 CE
Unknown artist. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Five Gospel passages anchor the test — Matthew 25 (hungry/sick/stranger)164, Matthew 6 (no piety for public display)165, Luke 12 (no wealth-hoarding)166, Luke 1 (unborn life)167, Mark 12 (church-state separation)168. Abbott runs against four and earns credit on Luke 1; Hinojosa tracks four and loses on Luke 1 by traditional readings, though that verse reads differently in liberal-Protestant frameworks.
Issue
Abbott
Hinojosa
Care for the sick (Matt 25:36 / Medicaid expansion)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
'I was sick and you took care of me'; Abbott has refused Medicaid expansion in the state with the highest uninsured rate35, while Hinojosa's platform centers a Medicaid-expansion plan as a direct application of Matthew 25:36.
Care for the stranger (Matt 25:35 / Operation Lone Star, in-state tuition)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
'I was a stranger and you welcomed me'; Abbott has run Operation Lone Star and signed the end of in-state tuition for Dreamers67, while Hinojosa's 'no te dejes' framing of solidarity with immigrant Texans lands closer to Matthew 25:35.
Piety not before others (Matt 6:1-6 / SB 10 Ten Commandments)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
Matthew 6 warns against piety practiced for public display; Abbott signed SB 10 mandating Ten Commandments posters in classrooms44 — the exact pattern the passage condemns — while Hinojosa voted no on the SB 10/SB 14/SB 17 package.
Church-state line (Mark 12:13-17)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
'Render to Caesar' draws a clean line between state and altar; Abbott's classroom-mandate package collapses that line, while Hinojosa's no-vote on the SB 10/SB 11/SB 763 cluster keeps it.
Warning against wealth-hoarding (Luke 12 / data centers)
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
Luke 12:13-21 warns against rulers who serve industrial-scale wealth; Abbott's data-center deference shifts grid costs onto households, while Hinojosa's critique of 'the richest men in the world' building data centers at residential ratepayers' expense tracks the Luke 12 frame.
Unborn life (Luke 1:39-45 / SB 8 abortion ban)
Helps
Hurts
Abbott: Helps · Hinojosa: Hurts
On the traditional reading of Luke 1, Abbott's SB 8 abortion ban earns him the one Gospel-aligned column on this scorecard, while Hinojosa's abortion-rights advocacy cuts against that verse — though the same verse reads differently in liberal-Protestant frameworks.
'No te dejes' / standing with the marginalized
—
Helps
Abbott: — · Hinojosa: Helps
Hinojosa's quoted 'no te dejes' framing of standing with the marginalized echoes the Matt 25 posture of identifying with 'the least of these'; Abbott has not adopted comparable solidarity language and his Operation Lone Star posture cuts the other direction in the same Matt 25 frame.
SB 10 / SB 14 / SB 17 package opposition
Hurts
Helps
Abbott: Hurts · Hinojosa: Helps
Hinojosa voted against the SB 10 / SB 14 / SB 17 package — the Ten Commandments mandate, the trans-care ban, and the foreign-land-ownership law — which collectively run against Matt 6's anti-public-piety, Matt 25's care-for-the-stranger, and Mark 12's church-state line; Abbott signed all three.
Sources
- Texas Tribune, 'Ten Commandments in Texas schools: SB 10 explained,' May 24, 2025. (full list)
- Governing, 'Texas governor still won't expand Medicaid,' archived analysis of Abbott's repeated rejection of Medicaid expansion. (full list)
- Hechinger Report, 'What's happened since Texas killed in-state tuition for undocumented students,' 2025. (full list)
- Texas Observer, 'Gina Hinojosa's campaign for Texas governor,' 2025 — quotes Hinojosa on corruption and Operation Lone Star. (full list)
- Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor, official campaign priorities page, accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Gospel of Matthew 25:31-46 (NRSV-UE), the Judgment of the Nations: 'I was hungry and you gave me food, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me' — the most cited Jesus passage on social ethics. (full list)
- Gospel of Matthew 6:1-18 (NRSV-UE), the Sermon on the Mount: 'Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them' — Jesus's direct warning against religious display for public effect. (full list)
- Gospel of Luke 12:13-21 (NRSV-UE), the Parable of the Rich Fool: 'one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions' — Jesus's sharpest teaching against wealth-hoarding. (full list)
- Gospel of Luke 1:39-45 (NRSV-UE), the Visitation: 'the child in my womb leaped for joy' — the traditional Christian proof text for the moral status of unborn life. (full list)
- Gospel of Mark 12:13-17 (NRSV-UE), the Tribute to Caesar: 'Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's' — the foundational Gospel text for church-state distinction. (full list)