AUSTIN, Texas — Joy Diaz, an Austin-based journalist who spent 16 on public radio at KUT, announced she is running for Texas governor.
Diaz, 45, joins the race as a Democrat and will face off against former congressman Beto O’Rourke, who launched his campaign in November, and Deirdre Gilbert in the March 2022 Democratic primary for governor.
Diaz, a former reporter for Texas Standard and KUT, left her journalism job in November, according to a video posted online before her Wednesday campaign launch at Scholz Garten in Downtown Austin.
She said she was inspired to run for governor after she and her young son contracted COVID-19 this year.
“I recently left journalism to fulfill a mission — an unshakeable dream, a fire in my soul — to serve you as the next governor of the great state of Texas,” she said.
In the video, Diaz said she is focusing on three main issues for Texas: the border, public education and state preparedness for the pandemic.
“The most valuable information comes from the people who live these policies day in and day out, everyday Texans like you and me,” Diaz said. “When I hear men in power describe the border as a crisis, it just reinforces one thing, that they haven’t done their jobs.”
O’Rourke raised $2 million in the first 24 of his campaign, but Diaz told KVUE’s media partners at the Austin American-Statesman she is focused on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, not the other Democrats.
"My target has been Greg Abbott. That's where my focus is, that's where my spirit is, that's where my energy will be," she told The Statesman.
The Statesman reports Diaz spent time with mentor state Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin) as part of a six-month course at the LBJ Women’s Campaign School at UT’s LBJ Schools of Public Affairs. The course offers training to those wanting to run for office.
Gov. Abbott will face at least two challengers in the Republican primary – former state Sen. Don Huffines and former Texas GOP Chairman Allen West.
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