Is Gina Hinojosa Behind the U.S. Stock Market Plunge? [Seok-woo Lee’s Global 24]

[Financial News] “Is Gina Hinojosa behind the U.S. stock market plunge?”
After U.S. President Donald Trump blamed the opposition Democratic Party for the across-the-board plunge in the New York stock market on the 5th (local time), the name Gina Hinojosa came to the fore.
Though she is still unfamiliar to many, she is a rising political star who was elected governor of Texas in the U.S. midterm elections held on the 3rd (local time). Her election drew attention around the world, not just in the United States. One reason was that she was the first Democratic candidate to win the governorship in 36 years; another was that she is a Latina woman born in Latin America.
More important still, she brought the issue of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers to the forefront of the political agenda and was the one who put the brakes on construction, calling for a “slowdown.”


Texas is especially significant because it is the largest hub for AI data center investment in the United States. The state has 174 planned data center projects, with a planned power capacity of 73.6 GW. Virginia, which ranks second in scale, has 212 projects, but its planned power capacity is 23.3 GW, less than a third of Texas’s. In fact, the planned data center capacity in Texas accounts for more than a quarter of the U.S. total.
As a result, any setbacks in Texas would inevitably disrupt data center plans across the United States as well.
Moreover, on the 5th (local time), shortly after her election, Hinojosa took a hard line, saying, “Data center-related projects should be halted until laws to protect residents are in place.”
In an interview with CNN that day, Texas governor-elect Hinojosa stressed, “Data centers have been built mainly in rural areas, but there are no rules or laws to protect Texas residents.”
She stressed, “We will put laws in place to protect residents, and work currently underway related to data centers must be halted until those safeguards are in place.” She added that local residents should also be able to participate in decisions about whether and how data centers operate.


Born in 1973, she is 52 years old and was born in McAllen, in the Rio Grande Valley along the Mexican border, to parents who were lawyers. Her father, Gilbert Hinojosa, was a politician who served as chair of the Texas Democratic Party for 12 years.
She graduated from the University of Texas and The George Washington University Law School, then worked as a civil rights and labor attorney representing union members.
Texas has led the AI data center boom, and residents’ discontent has grown accordingly. People living near data center construction sites have complained about round-the-clock noise and massive water use, while concerns about electricity and water shortages have become a major issue.
During her campaign, Hinojosa promised to halt permits for all new data centers until the legislature enacts regulations into law.
Earlier, Democratic candidate James Talarico also won Texas’s U.S. Senate race, completely transforming the state’s political landscape for the first time in 36 years.
[email protected] Seok-woo Lee, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter