Texas Elects a Governor Who Promised a Data Center Moratorium

Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee, won the Texas governor’s race on November 3, 2026, defeating three-term Republican Governor Greg Abbott. CBS News projected the result, and in remarks her campaign published on November 4, Hinojosa declared victory and said Abbott had called to congratulate her and offered to help with the transition. PSV could not confirm vote totals from the state: the Texas Secretary of State’s election night results site still showed the 2024 general election as its most recent race when this was written, so this brief reports no vote shares. Her remarks did not mention data centers.

Her campaign did, often. Its data center priority page says “we need an immediate moratorium on data centers to last until the legislature can meet to put in place real protections,” and calls on Abbott to issue an executive order. A July 23 campaign release lists the protections she wants from the Legislature: union labor requirements, a local say over whether data centers come to a community, an end to nondisclosure agreements over water and energy use, proof that households will not pay more for electricity or water, an end to data center subsidies, and water contracts that become unenforceable if they threaten a community’s supply. In an October 22 video, as reported by KSAT and the Texas Tribune, she said that as governor she would issue a moratorium on all data center approvals until laws pass. That is a campaign promise. PSV found no draft order, no definition of “new” and no stated legal authority.

Texas is not a marginal market for this asset class. In its August 3 audit directive, the governor’s office said ERCOT was considering approximately 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the grid, more than five times the state’s record peak demand, and that about 90 percent of the new requests are data centers, which computes to roughly 427 gigawatts. Bisnow reports that Jefferies equity research estimates about 13 gigawatts of announced Texas projects are immediately at risk from a statewide moratorium; that is a broker estimate PSV did not see. Abbott’s pause is already in force: his August 3 directive holds data centers in ERCOT’s interconnection process until the PUC and ERCOT complete the audit, and his September 21 letter told TCEQ to stop issuing data center permits until ERCOT finishes. ERCOT says its report with the PUC will be published on or before December 10, 2026.

The new governor arrives after that. The Texas Constitution sets the regular session for the second Tuesday in January of odd-numbered years and installs the governor the following week, which computes to January 12 and January 19, 2027; local reporting gives the same inauguration date. From ERCOT’s report to the inauguration is 40 days. Hinojosa’s campaign has argued that Abbott’s pause would end in December, after the election. No record PSV read sets that end date, and whether Abbott lifts, extends or narrows the pause before he leaves is now the near-term question for every project in the audit. After January 19, the question becomes what a Hinojosa order reaches: the PUC’s commissioners are governor appointees, TCEQ answers to the executive branch, and the sales tax exemption she wants ended is statute, which only the Legislature can change.

The artifact is a Texas policy exposure register, one row per site or asset. Inputs: the project’s ERCOT interconnection status and whether it answered the impact request; every pending TCEQ authorization; any county abatement or state sales tax exemption it relies on; and the lease, purchase agreement, loan and construction contract. Sources to watch: ERCOT’s report and the PUC’s open meeting, the governor’s office for any order lifting or changing the pause, Hinojosa’s transition and any executive order after January 19, and bills filed for the session that opens January 12. Output per row: what the project already holds, what it still needs from the state, which of the open items a moratorium on new approvals could plausibly reach, the contract dates exposed, and what changed since the last run, each linked to the record.

An assistant does the volume work well here: reading every new order, filing and bill for scope language, flagging which listed projects the words could reach and quoting the text, and keeping the dates current. Land use and energy counsel reviews every flag, and the development head or investment committee approves any change to schedules, budgets or closing decisions. The assistant does not predict what a governor will sign or how a court would read it, and it never treats a campaign statement as a rule. PSV has analyzed no project in the Texas audit and promises no outcome.