Hinojosa Names a Bipartisan Transition Team and Starts Interviewing Morath's Replacement

Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa stepped before cameras Thursday at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Austin and said the transition she is building will not belong only to the coalition that elected her.

"This is a transition for the whole state of Texas," she told reporters in her first public appearance since defeating Gov. Greg Abbott. "We will have a bipartisan transition, and we will have a bipartisan administration and government in Texas."

The event lasted about 14 minutes. In that short window she named her first transition aides, confirmed her team is already interviewing replacements for Education Commissioner Mike Morath, asked Texas Parks and Wildlife to hold off on any sale of Boca Chica State Park, and urged Republican senators not to block what voters just ordered. The Texas Tribune and Axios Austin covered the news conference.

Who is on the team so far

Joe Madden, former chief of staff to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, will serve as executive director of the transition. Tamala Barksdale, a former Austin ISD trustee who served with Hinojosa on that board, is senior adviser. Ryan Pollock of the Texas State Building and Construction Trades Council is also on the roster.

The bipartisan piece is former state Rep. Ernest Bailes of East Texas, who introduced himself as a "conservative Republican." Bailes served in the House from 2017 to 2025. In 2023 he joined other House Republicans and Democrats, including Hinojosa, to block Abbott's private-school voucher push. Abbott later backed Bailes' primary challenger, now-Rep. Janis Holt of Silsbee, and Bailes lost.

"I believe in Gina," Bailes said Thursday. "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."

Hinojosa pointed to Bailes as proof she means to govern across party lines. Conservatives should note the filter: Bailes is a Republican who already broke with Abbott on vouchers. That is bipartisan in one sense. It is not a broad invitation to the Senate majority that kept school choice alive.

Morath, takeovers and the A-F system

Hinojosa repeated her campaign promise to fire Morath, appointed by Abbott in 2015. She said her team is "actively interviewing" people to replace him. His term expires at the end of the year. Axios noted that her nominee for education commissioner would need confirmation from the Republican-controlled Senate.

Morath's agency has appointed management boards that took over locally elected school boards in seven districts since 2023. Hinojosa wants those takeovers ended and has pledged to pause the state's A-F accountability grades. Parents who want failing campuses fixed, and parents who want elected trustees left alone, both have a stake in how she keeps that promise. Local control is not a slogan when a state board replaces a school board your neighbors elected.

Rolling back the voucher program will also need the Legislature. Democrats now hold the House after Tuesday's wave, but Republicans kept the Senate. Dock Line has already mapped how that divided government will work and how Democrats swept the statewide races.

Boca Chica and the Senate

Asked about a possible sale of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX, Hinojosa said she had spoken with the executive director of Texas Parks and Wildlife and asked that "no action be taken" during the transition. On the campaign trail she accused Abbott of agreeing to sell the beach to Elon Musk, his biggest donor this cycle. Holding a public park while voters' new governor settles in is a reasonable request. A permanent decision about public land still belongs in the open, with facts on the table.

She also faced a question about Republican senators changing chamber rules to limit Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin's powers. "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," Hinojosa replied. "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."

Respect for election results runs both ways. Democrats won the governorship, the House and nearly every statewide race on the ballot (Republicans held SBOE seats and Senate District 18). Republicans still hold the Senate, 19-12. Rules the chamber writes for itself are lawful. Using them to empty an office voters just filled is a political choice Texans will notice.

What she promised, and what the Senate can stop

On the trail, Hinojosa pledged $1,500 to every Texas household from the state savings account, an end to public-school takeovers, a rollback of vouchers, Medicaid expansion and a purge of "waste, fraud and abuse." The Tribune noted that several of those items face headwinds, or outright opposition, in the Senate. She will also inherit debates she already opened, including her promise of a pause on new data centers until lawmakers act, which Dock Line covered after she won.

Hinojosa said Abbott has been "gracious" and that his team pledged to "fully cooperate with this transition and be as helpful as they can." That is the minimum Texans should expect between elections. Smooth handoffs keep lights on, roads open and agencies answering the phone while the politics settles.

Talk of bipartisanship is cheap until January. The test is whether Hinojosa names people who can run agencies, whether the Senate confirms or blocks them, and whether both parties tell the truth about what a divided Capitol can and cannot pass. Christians who pray for those in authority should do it by name, then watch the appointments and the bills, not the slogans.

Hero photo: The Texas State Capitol in Austin. File photo from 2010. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa announced her transition team in Austin on Nov. 5, 2026. Photo: LoneStarMike / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.