Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa spoke on campus Thursday about her transition to the governor’s mansion as she prepares to take office in January.
Hinojosa, an alumna who currently serves as UT’s state House representative, pledged to run a bipartisan administration focused on cost of living issues and announced her transition led by UT alumnus Joseph Madden. She defeated incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott in Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to Associated Press projections, as part of a Democratic statewide sweep of Texas’ executive offices.
“We are forging a new way forward,” Hinojosa said. “People are tired of the divisions, of the fighting, tired of the culture wars. This is a time to come together in a way that is about just delivering for the people of Texas.”
The governor-elect will be unable to pass legislation by herself. Though Democrats took the Texas House, Hinojosa will preside over the state’s first divided legislature since 2003 as Republicans held the Texas Senate in Tuesday’s elections, according to Associated Press projections.
“I’m just about delivering for people,” Hinojosa said. “This is not about being a Democratic administration. I’m not going to be the governor for just Democrats. I’m going to be the governor for all the people of Texas.”
Hinojosa will inherit the power to appoint thousands of state agency and commission officials as their terms end, among the Texas governor’s most influential powers. Some of her nominations require confirmation from the Republican-held state Senate, but she can make recess appointments when the legislature is not in session. She can also make nonbinding, but often-followed, executive orders to direct state agencies.
Throughout her campaign and tenure as a state representative, Hinojosa focused on K-12 education. She listed priorities in ending STAAR testing, not allowing more investment in school vouchers and increasing teacher pay on her website. At her press conference, she announced that her team was interviewing candidates for the Texas Education Agency director, who helps oversee K-12 education in the state.
There were no higher education initiatives on her website.
Her reach includes regents on university system boards, like the UT System Board of Regents. The board has the authority to hire the UT president and approve the chancellor’s order to fire them. In February 2027, the terms of three regents, including Chairman Kevin Eltife, will expire. Another three regents’ terms will expire during her term in 2029.
Hinojosa has also not announced whether she intends to maintain Abbott’s nonbinding tuition freeze order. In May, Abbott announced a tuition freeze for two- and four-year public institutions during the 2026-27 academic year, an initiative that began in 2023.
