This January, the three highest officials in the state of Texas – the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House – will be set to become Democrats for the first time since 1995.
But Republicans will always be on deck to help steer the ship.
In a sign that Democrats intend to govern in a bipartisan manner even after a near-total takeover of Texas state government in the midterms last week, the new “Big Three” have each tapped Republicans to help guide their transitions.
Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa has named a former Republican state representative to co-chair her transition team. Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin, who will preside over the state Senate, has tapped two former Republican state senators to co-chair hers. And Texas House Speaker Presumptive Senfronia Thompson of Houston announced a team made up of three former Democratic presidents and three former Republican Party chairmen, including Republicans Joe Straus and Dade Phelan.
Several of these Republicans were primary antagonists of outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
“This is a transition for the entire state of Texas,” Hinojosa said during his first news conference as governor-elect last week. “We will have a bipartisan transition, and we will have a bipartisan administration and government in Texas.”
Taken together, these measures constitute a tacit acknowledgment that Democrats rose to their new political power during a nationwide generational blue tsunami, just two years after Texans elected President Donald Trump by 14 percentage points. U.S. Sen.-elect James Talarico, who defeated Republican Ken Paxton by 12 points, cautioned against “assuming that Texans have suddenly become partisan Democrats,” saying the state “voted for change last night — not necessarily for one party over another.”
Talarico could also retain Republican staff. Outgoing U.S. Sen. John Cornyn told TMZ Tuesday that his new successor said he hopes to keep some of Cornyn’s caseworkers, who help run constituent services, on board.
New Democratic leaders also face divided government. While Democrats won every statewide office in the vote and won a comfortable majority in the Texas House of Representatives, Republicans still control the state Senate, meaning any bill will need Republican votes in next year’s legislative session to reach Hinojosa’s desk.
“By working together, Democrats and Republicans, we can make a difference in the state of Texas and in the lives of the people we represent,” Thompson said last week in announcing she had the votes to become speaker. “I don’t have a dictatorship where I’m going to tell people what to do.”
Thompson added that she would restore the Texas House’s long-standing tradition of appointing members of both parties to chair committees and would not seek to “punish” the Republican minority. Republicans barred Democratic presidency for the 2025 session, then imposed tougher penalties for legislative walkouts after dozens of Democratic lawmakers fled the state to protest Trump’s push to redraw the state’s congressional maps in mid-decade.
The balancing act Democrats are trying to achieve — building long-term power in state government by passing popular measures and recognizing the state’s enduring partisan orientation, while satisfying their liberal base — is tricky. Some Democratic activists were already angered by the overtures the new Democratic leaders were making to Republicans.
“Activists did not spend every hour organizing, donating, phone banking, and getting dragged out of the Capitol to return the keys to the people who broke it,” Texas progressive commentator Michelle Davis wrote in a Tuesday newsletter calling for Republicans to be barred from chairing House committees. “The Republicans have already shown us what they do with power. They exclude the other side and then target the least of us. This does not govern. This is not the time to play football. Now is the time to repair everything they broke.”
For Republicans who clashed with Abbott and Patrick, the appointments to the new guard transition teams give them a foothold in shaping new administrations, just as the two longtime leaders are shown the exits.
Former Republican Rep. Ernest Bailes, Hinojosa’s transition co-chair, was a staunch opponent of Abbott’s push for school vouchers, a cause that put him on the same side as the governor-elect when they were both in the House. Bailes lost his 2024 primary after Abbott supported his opponent, current state Rep. Janis Holt of Silsbee, and single-handedly financed more than three-quarters of her campaign.
But neither Bailes nor Hinojosa addressed that dynamic or mentioned the good guys when the governor-elect announced his role in his transition. Hinojosa simply called Bailes “a champion of public schools, a small business owner, a Republican – demonstrating my commitment to making this transition one that truly represents all of Texas.”
“I believe in Gina,” said Bailes, who served in the Texas House from 2017 to 2025. “We will put partisanship aside. We will work together for what is best for the children of the state of Texas. We will take care of education, and we will support and listen to the people.”
Straus and Phelan will advise Thompson ahead of the vote for president in January. Both notably clashed with Patrick and faced persistent criticism from the party’s hard right wing, who accused them of stifling conservative priorities.
Although Phelan oversaw the passage of many such measures during his two terms as president, including a near-total ban on abortion and the prohibited carrying of handguns, Patrick criticized him for the House impeachment of Paxton in 2023 and then openly sought to oust him by supporting his primary primary challenger in 2024. Abbott has also spent millions of dollars to unseat anti-voucher GOP incumbents whom Phelan strove to protect, paving the way for a new insurgent class that ended Phelan’s presidency and marginalized House Democrats.
Phelan, who will leave office in January, sharply criticized Paxton and the Texas GOP’s growing partisanship and shrinking ideological tent before and during this year’s election cycle. In an interview with Texas Monthly after the election, Phelan called the midterm elections “extinction level” and said that for the GOP to rebuild, “MAGA has to be dead.”
“The Texas House works best when its members put people before party: when we come together, work together, and govern in a bipartisan way for the good of all Texans,” Phelan said in a statement. “I look forward to working alongside (Thompson) to restore these traditions and make the 90th session one that Texans can be proud of.”
Tasked with leading a Republican-majority Senate, Goodwin tapped former Republican Sen. Kel Seliger, an enemy of Patrick, and Tommy Williams, a former Abbott adviser, to help lead her transition team. His advisers also include retired Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, a Republican, and several former aides to Straus and Republican state Sen.-elect Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin.
Seliger served in the Legislature’s upper house for 19 years, where he became a thorn in Patrick’s side as the rare Republican willing to oppose him. After the Amarillo Republican voted against some of Patrick’s priorities and suggested that one of the lieutenant governor’s top aides kiss his back, Patrick removed him from his Agriculture Committee chairmanship. After opting not to seek re-election in 2022, Seliger supported Patrick’s Democratic opponent that year, saying the Republican Party incumbent had created a culture of “vindictiveness” and “nasty” that required Republicans to “bow down” or be punished.
“It’s no longer really a deliberative body and it’s neither collegial nor cooperative. It’s much more partisan and much more confrontational,” Seliger said at the time. (A Patrick spokesperson previously accused Seliger of “working against conservative interests” throughout his tenure.)
Goodwin said she hopes to govern differently and let Republican senators vote in the best interest of their districts.
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday alongside Goodwin, Seliger said this type of approach would be imperative to getting bills through a divided legislature.
“As of January 19, 181 members of the Legislature, the lieutenant governor and the governor all have issues and agendas important to them,” Seliger said. “If they want to succeed to any extent, they have to cooperate.”
The new “Big Three” are not the first to rely on members of the other team. Top Republicans who were new to power a generation ago also tapped their Democratic peers for key positions.
After his election as lieutenant governor in 1998 – a first for Texas Republicans since Reconstruction – Rick Perry retained some Democratic staffers from Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock’s tenure. Four years later, new GOP Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst hired Bruce Gibson, a former Democratic lawmaker and Bullock aide, as chief of staff.
As governor, Perry also appointed Henry Cuellar, the Laredo Democrat who now serves in Congress, as Texas secretary of state.
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