Changes ahead at the Texas Capitol

The big changes under the Capitol Dome come with big expectations. Fox 7 Austin's chief political reporter Rudy Kosky joining us now from the newsroom with a look at the process underway that may determine if those expectations can be met. Rudy. Yeah, big expectations and a big transition process. We haven't seen one like this in the state of Texas. 36 years, and it could be argued, never won this widespread in at least modern history. Now, the clock is ticking on the transition team for Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa. You know, this really is a reminder to those days back to Ann Richards when she took over from Republican Bill Clements. On our Battleground Texas show. Greg Grugan and political analyst Bill King noted how Hinojosa, despite her bipartisan pledge, is facing some high expectations from within the party base. We also heard from former Richard staff member Chuck McDonald. He talked about their transition years and transition years ago and the familiar challenges now. And they were glad to turn things over to us and patted us on the back and said, good luck. I think it's important to remember the biggest challenge we face, and it will be even a bigger challenge for Governor Hinojosa's team, is the state regulatory agencies who do report to the executive branch as well as the legislative branch. You have people take a state agency like TCEQ, the environmental agency. You could have worked there 30 years and you've never. Had a Democratic executive directing what their expectations are for the agency. Can she really hit the ground running or will there be a lag time? I remember we had a retreat where all the Richards leadership came together for like five really intensive days of whiteboarding everything we wanted to do in that first month. And I very much suspect that's what Gina Hinojosa and her folks will do something like that. Now, one of the big differences between then and now, according to McDonald, is technology, specifically cell phones. He said their team only had one cell phone to work with during the transition. Now there are, of course, a lot more cell phones and a lot more pressure from those cell phones on social media. Posting every day, Alec. Rudy, in 1990, Democrats had the trifecta, the governor's mansion, the House, the Senate, yet Richards ended up being a one-time governor. Hinojosa does not have all three, so how does she avoid history repeating itself? Yeah, our panel noted that and how her, Gina Hinojosa's legislative agenda goes from partisan. But if it goes from partisan to hard left, there could be some trouble. Thank you very much. Richard's re-election defeat came after making several unpopular decisions like not supporting concealed carry legislation for supporting that school finance plan known as Robin Hood and then appearing to be somewhat soft on crime after a federal lawsuit forced her to parole several violent offenders who later committed new crimes. Things like that. Fed a perfect political storm that surged into a big 1994 red wave. Ballot. Rudy Kosky, thank you.