Jeis Whittaker says they cannot tell what the pronouns line is meant to communicate
Jeis WhittakerPrivate individual interviewed by Chron; a native Texan who identifies as non-binary
Speaking to Chron, Jeis Whittaker, a native Texan who identifies as non-binary, said they agreed with Hinojosa that Republicans use transgender people as a wedge issue to distract from their own failings, but warned that commentary on that point slides easily into apathy about transgender issues. Whittaker said they could not tell what the ad's pronouns line was meant to communicate and doubted swing voters would understand it either.
“Republicans are using people like me and my friends as a wedge issue to distract from their own failings - on that much, I agree with Hinojosa But it’s really easy for commentary about that problem to descend into complete apathy about trans issues. I’m unsure what 'my pronouns are mom, Texan, and soon-to-be Governor' is supposed to communicate And I don’t think actual swing voters will get it, either.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Did Gina Hinojosa’s “Pronouns” ad mock transgender Texans?
On September 8, 2026, Greg Abbott’s campaign opened a transgender-focused line of attack on Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor of Texas, nicknaming her “Gender Bender Gina,” cataloguing her votes against Texas restrictions on gender-affirming care and school policy, and posting an altered screenshot of one of her own public-schools ads in which an American flag had been replaced with a transgender pride flag. The next day Hinojosa released a campaign ad titled “Pronouns,” which her campaign said would run statewide and in which she is the only speaker. In it she said Abbott wanted to run a campaign calling her “too woke” while she would run one about working people being “too broke,” closing with the line “My pronouns are Mom, Texan, and soon to be: Governor.” Whether that closing line mocked transgender people is the matter in dispute. Transgender writers and advocates said it borrowed a mocking right-wing joke about pronouns at their expense, while the campaign defended the pivot away from culture-war argument. Hinojosa has voted against the Texas restrictions Abbott cites, and the criticism of her is about the ad’s rhetoric rather than her legislative record.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Chron culture reporter Gwen Howerton interviewed transgender and non-binary Texans about Gina Hinojosa's "Pronouns" ad and James Talarico's Fox News remarks the same week. The report quotes Jeis Whittaker, a native Texan who identifies as non-binary, and transgender student Emily Oswin-Welborn.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Chron reporter Gwen Howerton interviewed transgender and non-binary Texans about the "Pronouns" ad and about James Talarico's separate Fox News remarks the same week. The report says Whittaker wished Hinojosa had offered more forceful support of transgender and queer Texans.
After the quotation
Whittaker and transgender student Emily Oswin-Welborn, who called the pronoun joke "tired," both told Chron they would not vote Republican and would stay home if they chose not to vote for Talarico or Hinojosa. The Hinojosa campaign did not respond to Chron's request for comment on her stance on transgender issues.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether the closing line of Hinojosa's September 9 "Pronouns" ad — "My pronouns are Mom, Texan, and soon to be: Governor" — mocked transgender Texans, not Abbott's attacks on her record. Whittaker's response to the line is critical throughout: it is unintelligible, it will not land with the voters it targets, and the genre it belongs to tends toward apathy about transgender people. The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”, because Whittaker expressly agrees with Hinojosa on one point. That loses because the agreement is about Republican tactics, a different target from the ad, and we do not reverse a label by treating agreement with a speaker's diagnosis as support for the conduct at issue. Whittaker does not say the line mocked transgender people, which is why condemns rests on the criticism actually made rather than on the case question's strongest form.
- Recorded on
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- People and groups discussed
- Gina Hinojosa
Corrections to this statement
These notices document reporting corrections, classification changes, and topic-label updates.
Reporting correction
Correction to: Statement by Jeis Whittaker
- Previous language
- Interviewed by KXAN, Jeis Whittaker, a native Texan who identifies as non-binary, said... (speaker description: Private individual interviewed by KXAN; a native Texan who identifies as non-binary)
- Corrected language
- Speaking to the Houston Chronicle, Jeis Whittaker, a native Texan who identifies as non-binary, said... (speaker description: Private individual interviewed by the Houston Chronicle; a native Texan who identifies as non-binary)
This entry said Jeis Whittaker made these remarks in an interview with KXAN and cited KXAN's September 14 report, which does not quote Whittaker. The quotations come from Gwen Howerton's September 12 report in the Houston Chronicle, which the entry now cites. We have corrected the summary, context and speaker description to match, and the case overview, which also placed Whittaker and Emily Oswin-Welborn in the KXAN report, now credits the Chronicle. The quoted words and the classification are unchanged.
This corrects our account of what happened.
Chron culture reporter Gwen Howerton interviewed transgender and non-binary Texans about Gina Hinojosa's "Pronouns" ad and James Talarico's Fox News remarks the same week. The report quotes Jeis Whittaker, a native Texan who identifies as non-binary, and transgender student Emily Oswin-Welborn.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)More from this case
Read the full caseHinojosa says the "Pronouns" ad was meant to rebuke culture-war politics
“What I was trying to communicate is to both Greg Abbott and to the culture wars. You can shove it with your culture wars. He had just accused me of working with teachers to try to trans kids. It's just ridiculous, right? … And so that was to say, look, we're not doing your culture wars.”Read statement
Greg Pak dislikes the "Pronouns" ad but credits Hinojosa for not waffling on trans rights
“Didn't like Hinojosa's recent "Pronouns" ad. I *DO* like her actual voting record in Texas for trans rights, and I'm glad that unlike some other politicians, she's not waffling on those stances.”Read statement
Katelyn Burns says it was wrong to mock trans people’s pronouns with this style of joke
“Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, spawned an online backlash from some lefty trans posters by appearing to mock pronouns. "My pronouns are mom, Texan and soon-to-be governor," she says in a recent campaign video posted to YouTube. When I made a post on Bluesky pointing out that none of those words are pronouns, and implied that it was wrong to mock trans people's pronouns with this style of joke, a bunch of Bluesky liberals took umbrage.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Jeis Whittaker says they cannot tell what the pronouns line is meant to communicate". First published: 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/1002-speaking-to-chron-jeis-whittaker-a-native-texan