Hinojosa names bipartisan transition team as Texans face mounting affordability crisis

A gallon of diesel costs an average of $5.54 in Texas. A year ago, it was $3.24. For working Texans already struggling with grocery bills, housing costs, and rising utility expenses, that increase is another reminder of how expensive everyday life has become. 

According to AAA's November 11 fuel price report, diesel prices have climbed more than 70% over the past year, while regular gasoline averages $3.42 per gallon. Those costs affect more than what drivers pay at the pump as higher transportation expenses can put additional pressure on the prices families pay for goods and services. 

For Texas educators, whose paychecks have struggled to keep pace with rising living costs for more than a decade, the affordability crisis is particularly familiar. Teachers and school employees have long been expected to do more with less, both in their classrooms and at home. 

Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on changing that reality. Her affordability agenda includes declaring a high-cost emergency, pursuing a suspension of state gasoline and diesel taxes, addressing electricity rates, and providing $1,500 in relief to Texas households. She’s also pledged to increase public education funding and challenge policies that have placed additional financial pressure on public schools. 

Now, following her historic victory over Gov. Greg Abbott, Hinojosa is beginning to assemble the administration tasked with turning those promises into action. 

On November 5, she announced her bipartisan “By and For the People” transition leadership team, bringing together leaders with experience in public education, state government, and organized labor. The appointments include former Republican state Rep. Executive director Ernest Bailes, Texas State Building and Construction Trades Council Ryan Pollock, former Austin ISD trustee Tamala Barksdale, and transition executive director Joe Madden. 

The selections offer an early indication of how Hinojosa intends to govern by bringing together people from different political backgrounds around shared concerns about public schools, working families, and economic opportunities. 

Among those appointments, one stands out for his willingness to break with his own party in defense of Texas public schools: former state Rep. Ernest Bailes.  

Those that have been in the voucher fight with us for a while will remember a clutch procedural move by Rep. Bailes during the 88^th legislature. In the waning days of the session, Bailes objected to a normally routine procedural request for the House Public Education Committee to meet outside of a publicly posted hearing. This rushed committee meeting was intended to advance a rewritten voucher bill without a public hearing on the new language. By objecting, Bailes turned it into a broader House discussion on the voucher bill and forced a record vote against Chairman Brad Buckley’s maneuver.  

The House sided with Bailes (76-65); his intervention on behalf of public schools was a pivotal obstacle to vouchers. The committee subsequently held a public hearing, but left the voucher pending, effectively killing it for the regular session. 

In the fourth special session (yep, four specials), he was among the 21 Republicans who joined Democrats to strip vouchers from HB 1. That amendment was authored by retiring Rep. John Raney and passed 84–63. For his actions, Rep. Bailes was one of the Republicans targeted by Gov. Abbott's 2024 primary strategy to cull the House of those who would oppose his voucher scheme. Bailes was one of nine anti-voucher Republicans that lost their seat.  

Rep. Bailes demonstrated massive personal integrity and support for public schools by standing up to Abbott and it cost him dearly. We are glad to see his expertise and acumen brought back to leadership during the transition and trust that he will have our schools' interests at heart while helping Gov.-elect Hinojosa develop her agenda for rescuing public education.  

With the addition of Ryan Pollock on her team, Hinojosa also demonstrates her commitment to working Texans. Pollock, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 520 and Executive Director of the Texas State Building & Construction Trades Council, represents the labor voice on Governor-elect Hinojosa’s transition team. She cites his appointment as co-chair as her commitment to creating economic opportunities for all Texans. Pollock is a sixth-generation Texan who’s spent his career organizing workers and collaborating with government and industry representatives to create job and apprenticeship opportunities. 

His role reflects the campaign Hinojosa ran, which put working families at the center of her platform. She promised to champion pro-labor policies as governor, including defending workers’ right to organize and standing with them on the picket line. She also made affordability a core message, blaming rising costs on corporate and billionaire influence over state government and casting the race as a choice between working Texans and the wealthy. With a union voice guiding her transition, we can trust that the future for working Texans is in good hands.