Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa pledges bipartisan administration in first public appearance since win

By Kayla Guo, The Texas Tribune
November 5, 2026

Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa announced her transition team and emphasized that she would build a “bipartisan” administration at a news conference on Thursday, her first public appearance since defeating Gov. Greg Abbott in this week’s midterms.

“This is a transition for the whole state of Texas,” Hinojosa said before a crowd of TV cameras, reporters and students at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs in Austin. “We will have a bipartisan transition, and we will have a bipartisan administration and government in Texas.”

Leading the Austin Democrat’s transition team as executive director is Joe Madden, former chief of staff to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. 

Former state Rep. Ernest Bailes, who introduced himself as a “conservative Republican,” and Ryan Pollock of the Texas State Building and Construction Trades Council will also serve on her team. Tamala Barksdale, a former Austin ISD trustee who served alongside Hinojosa on the school board, will be senior adviser to the transition.

“I believe in Gina,” Bailes, who served in the Texas House from 2017 to 2025, said. “We will put partisanship aside. We will work together for what is best for the kids of the state of Texas. We will be able to take care of education, and we will support and listen to the people.”

Bailes, a staunch opponent of Abbott’s push for private school vouchers, was denied reelection two years ago when the governor backed his Republican primary challenger, now-state Rep. Janis Holt of Silsbee. In 2023, Bailes and a cohort of House Republicans joined with the chamber’s Democratic minority to thwart the voucher push, an opposition effort Hinojosa helped lead.

Upon taking office, Hinojosa will wield more power than expected after Democrats swept statewide Republicans out of office and took the Texas House. She will still have to contend with a GOP-majority state Senate, but with Democrats Vikki Goodwin as lieutenant governor and Nathan Johnson set to take over the attorney general’s office, Hinojosa will have allies across state government.

Asked about potential efforts by the GOP-majority state Senate to hamper Hinojosa’s transition and change Senate rules to restrict Goodwin’s powers as the chamber’s presiding officer, Hinojosa said, “The people of Texas have spoken, and I think it’s important that as elected leaders we respect what the people of Texas have said.”

“I would hope that elected leaders from both parties don’t get in the way of the progress we can make together to deliver for working people,” Hinojosa said. “That is our obligation as leaders in this state, and I look forward to working with Republican leaders in the Legislature.”

Tuesday’s political earthquake will have ripple effects across state government, empowering Democrats to set the state’s agenda for the first time in decades. On the campaign trail, Hinojosa promised to give every Texas household $1,500 out of the state savings account, end public school takeovers, roll back the school voucher program, expand Medicaid and purge government of “waste, fraud and abuse.” Some of those issues are expected to face headwinds, or outright opposition, in the Senate.

The press conference lasted roughly 14 minutes. Hinojosa took around five questions from reporters, answering one in Spanish, largely about the transition.

Hinojosa said Abbott had been “gracious” and expressed that his team would “fully cooperate with this transition and be as helpful as they can.”

“We are both committed to ensuring there is a smooth transition so that the people of Texas are taken care of,” she said.

One of Hinojosa’s promises, repeated throughout her campaign, was to fire Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath the day she is sworn in. She said Thursday that her team was “actively interviewing” people to replace Morath, who has appointed management boards to assume the authority of locally elected trustees in seven districts since 2023. Morath’s term is set to expire at the end of the year.

Asked about the potential sale of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX, Hinojosa said she had spoken to the executive director of Texas Parks and Wildlife and requested “no action be taken” on the sale during her transition. She railed against the prospect during her campaign, accusing Abbott of agreeing to sell the beach to Elon Musk, his biggest campaign donor this cycle.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.