USA - Texas. Death row Pastor Jeff Hood urges Gina Hinojosa to halt Executions

November 8, 2026 - Texas. Death Row Pastor Jeff Hood Urges Gina Hinojosa To Halt Executions in Texas

The Reverend Jeff Hood, who has served as a spiritual adviser to inmates on death row in Texas, has urged the state’s Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa to do everything in her power to halt executions in the state.

“You have one shot at being remembered for being the governor of Texas who walked into the mansion and said the killing stops here,” Hood, a longtime anti-death penalty activist and the founder of the Execution Intervention Project, wrote in a November 4 letter to Hinojosa, which was provided exclusively to Newsweek.

Hinojosa, a civil rights attorney and state legislator from Austin, became the 1st Democrat to win the Texas governor’s office in more than 3 decades on Tuesday, after defeating 3-term Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

It was one of several victories Democrats scored in governor’s races in states that have long been controlled by Republicans, giving the party a majority of governorships for the first time in two decades and a stronger defense against President Donald Trump and his agenda.

Hinojosa has said she personally does not support the death penalty, but that as governor, she would make decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Hood’s letter to the incoming governor of a state that has carried out the most executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976 comes at a time of renewed scrutiny over how states carry out the death penalty in the United States, particularly by lethal injection, after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Christa Pike on September 30. Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, the same drug used in Texas executions, and said she has endured agony every day since the failed attempt to put her to death.

The letter also comes after California Governor Gavin Newsom said he would commute the sentences of all 548 inmates on the state’s death row, a move that represents the largest mass clemency in U.S. history.

Newsom’s move represents the “height of moral leadership,” Hood told Newsweek.

Hinojosa is “promising a new era for Texas,” he said. “There is no new era that includes the death penalty.”

Newsweek has contacted Hinojosa’s representatives for comment via email outside regular business hours.

In his November 4 letter, Hood began by congratulating Hinojosa on her historic victory.

“Every anchor on every channel said the same word…earthquake. I too know what an earthquake feels like,” he wrote.

“I have stood in the chamber in Huntsville during an execution. The ground moves under your feet when you see someone strapped to a gurney and killed right in front of you. I felt it four weeks ago. Prison officials ended the life of Jamaal Howard. Nobody called it history. Everybody just called it routine,” Hood added.

He noted that executions have taken place in Texas under both Democratic and Republican governors, and that she too would be asked to “bless Texas’ killing machine.”

Hood went on: “Texas has killed more people than any state in this country. It is not even close. Texas has killed under Republicans and Democrats. Texas even killed under Ann Richards,” he wrote, referring to the state’s last former Democratic governor, who served from 1991 to 1995.

“Richards had the personality. Richards had the intelligence. Richards had the gurney too…and she used it. A blue state on a map does not stop the needle. Only a governor with some gumption can do that.”

Hood urged Hinojosa to use the powers she will have as governor to slow down the pace of executions in the state.

The Texas governor does not have the authority to declare a moratorium on executions and can only commute a death sentence or a pardon if there is a written recommendation by a majority vote of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. The governor can grant 30-day reprieves without the board’s recommendation.

What Gina Hinojosa Said About Death Penalty
In an interview with CNN’s Kasie Hunt in October, Hinojosa said she would not rule out capital punishment completely as governor.

Asked for her position on the issue, she said: “I think it’s terrible what has happened in this criminal justice system. I think it is inhumane what has happened. I also believe that there should not be just blanket positions on these things.

“And so, as governor, I will take that responsibility seriously. Look at each case on a case-by-case basis.”

Asked if she would support the death penalty in some cases, Hinojosa explained: “I personally do not support the death penalty, but as governor, I think it is my responsibility to look at each case individually. That is the responsibility given to the governor of Texas, one I take very seriously.

“And so, no, I’m not going to sit here and make a blanket statement about what I will do, because I think every situation is unique and needs that special attention.”