After The New York Times and other outlets reported on this week that the civil rights icon and United Farm Workers co-founder Cesar Chavez allegedly sexually abused girls who worked in the movement, MAGA-aligned Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the state of Texas will not observe the Cesar Chavez Day holiday. (Among the most prominent of his accusers, labor rights activist and fellow United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta revealed this week she was among the late Chavez’s assault victims — she bore two of his children, she said.)
Abbott wrote: “I am directing all Texas state agency heads to comply. In the upcoming legislative session, I will work with Texas lawmakers to remove Cesar Chavez Day from state law altogether.”
The state of Texas will not observe the Cesar Chavez Day holiday. I am directing all Texas state agency heads to comply. In the upcoming legislative session, I will work with Texas lawmakers to remove Cesar Chavez Day from state law altogether.
Reports of the horrific and widely…
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 18, 2026
He added: “Reports of the horrific and widely acknowledged sexual assault allegations against Cesar Chavez rightfully dismantle the myth of this progressive hero and undermine the narrative that elevated Chavez as a figure worthy of official state celebration.”
More than one X user voiced their surprise at the existence of a federal holiday honoring Chavez, which has been on the national calendar since 2011, when President Barack Obama signed a proclamation designating March 31 as César Chavez Day –though it is not a paid federal holiday. By the time Obama signed the proclamation honoring the now disgraced icon, César Chavez Day had already been a paid holiday for more than a decade in California where Democratic Gov. Gray Davis added it to the state calendar in 2000.
César Chavez Day has been listed in Texas as an optional state holiday, the same designation afforded to religious holidays such as Good Friday, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Abbott’s move follows that of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, who was the first governor to eliminate the holiday from the calendar.