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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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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 letter to Hinojosa, which was provided exclusively to Newsweek.
Hinojosa, a civil rights attorney and state legislator from Austin, became the first Democrat to win the Texas governor's office in more than three decades on Tuesday, after defeating three-term Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
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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.
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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.
Don’t ‘Bless Texas’ Killing Machine’
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.
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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.
‘Slow The System Down’
Hood called on her to exercise that power as much as possible. “Enough thirty-day reprieves will slow the system down,” he wrote.
He also urged her appoint members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles who would recommend that death sentences be reduced to life imprisonment, adding: “Every governor before you has used the board as an excuse to not intervene. But it is seven people the governor chooses.
“Slowly, they will all become your appointees. Choose people who will recommend life. Then sign your name under theirs.”
Members of the board serve six-year terms, which are typically staggered, and new appointees require confirmation by the Texas Senate. Democrats took control of the Texas House in Tuesday’s elections, but the GOP retained control of the state Senate.
In his letter, Hood also urged Hinojosa to “create every possible administrative barrier” to ensure Texas “does not have the functionality or ability” to carry out executions.
“You appoint the board that runs the prisons. That board hires the director. The director buys the drugs. Tell him to stop buying. Let the pentobarbital on the shelf expire. Refuse to deal with any pharmacy that wants its name kept secret,” he wrote.
He urged her to hold a press conference upon taking office in January and declaring “that you are going to do absolutely everything in your power to make sure that no human being will ever be executed on your watch.”
“Say it before the first date lands on your desk. Say it before anyone in that building tells you to wait. Say it before you learn how to be afraid of saying it,” Hood added.
He acknowledged that doing so would carry a political cost, but said that without action, she risked becoming "just like every other Texas governor…a comfortable accomplice to continued killing."
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.”
Executions in 2026
Thirty-five executions have taken place across the country so far this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Florida leads the nation, with 19 executions so far. Texas has carried out seven and Alabama and Oklahoma have carried out three each. Arizona, Indiana and Tennessee have each carried out one execution this year.
Texas has two more executions scheduled this year.
John Rubio is scheduled to be put to death on November 12 and Reinaldo Dennes on November 19. Two more executions are scheduled to take place in Florida this year and one in Oklahoma.
The firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan is set to take place at Fort Hood on December 3. If it goes ahead, it would be the first military execution to take place since 1961 but litigation could cause delays.
The Pentagon had said in October that the execution would be livestreamed, but Trump called the livestream off after widespread backlash, including from the families of the victims.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Cristina Diciu.
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