Texas Democratic Party chair: Sen. Wendy Davis should run for governor

Update: Davis filibuster succeeds amid chaos as Republicans fail to legally pass anti-abortion bill

Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said he hopes that Sen. Wendy Davis (D), who conducted a 10-hour filibuster against a bill that would close all but five abortion clinics in the state and ban all abortions after 20 weeks, will run for statewide office. Speaking to Raw Story from the Texas Capitol on Tuesday night, Hinojosa said she would likely win a bid for the governor’s office thanks to her marathon filibuster.

"I'm so proud of her effort and what she's showed Texas," Hinojosa said. "Women deserve, in this state, to be treated with dignity. I think that she's taken it to the Republicans in a way that was not expected. She has put them to shame and made us all very, very, very proud."

Asked about her potential political future, Hinojosa cracked a wide grin. "Wendy is not only extremely intelligent and articulate, she's great on the issues and she's got a great personal story -- a single mother who made it out of a life of poverty to go to Harvard law school, then gets elected to the city council and the Texas Senate by beating an incumbent Republican," he said. "She is someone that can really, really excite people across the state of Texas, who really shows true leadership."

"She doesn't play games or worry about what's going to get her votes," Hinojosa continued. "She does what she believes is right. We've been sorely lacking that kind of leadership in the state of Texas for more than 20 years. So, yeah. I'm hoping she runs for statewide office, and I know that should she decide to, all of these women and men that are here today, young and old, will work their hearts out for her. She'd probably get elected governor, or whatever other office she wants to run for."

Davis's filibuster unceremoniously ended just after 10 p.m. CST when Republicans cited her on a third "point of order" for allegedly going off-topic by mentioning Planned Parenthood in her filibuster of S.B. 5. At the time of this writing, fellow Texas Democrats were pulling out all the stops to block a full vote on S.B. 5 by using arcane parliamentary tactics to delay until midnight, when the special session officially ends.

S.B. 5 would ban all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy -- well before medical experts say a fetus is viable outside the womb -- and force all but five of the abortion clinics in Texas to shut their doors by 2014.

If they succeed, it's still possible that the bill could come up again in the days to follow if Gov. Rick Perry (R) decides to call another special session, which he could do tomorrow if he desires. Perry initially placed the anti-abortion measure on the legislature's docket as an "emergency" provision, and said at the time he would like to see the right to abortion completely revoked in the state.

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[Photo: Screenshot via YouTube.]