Happy Tuesday! Power is who calls the shots.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny with a high close to 79.

🎵 Sounds like: "The Girls from Texas"

🤝 Situational awareness: The Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and Museum is taking proposals for next year's programming. Proposals are due on Dec. 1.

• "Mrs. Juanita J. Craft opened the doors of her home on Warren Avenue to young people, organizers, and neighbors who were building a better Dallas. This season, we are opening that door to you," the center said in an Instagram post.

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Today's newsletter is 980 probable words — a 3.5-minute read.

Gina Hinojosa, a Democratic state legislator from Austin, entered the race to unseat Gov. Greg Abbott as a heavy underdog. But with polls suggesting a surprisingly tight contest, we looked at how she could shape policy if elected.

Why it matters: Republicans have expanded the governor's powers, especially during Abbott's tenure, and Hinojosa would inherit that broader authority upon taking office.

The big picture: Texas does not limit how many terms someone can serve as governor.

• Decades of Republican dominance has meant governor-appointed boards and commissions are populated by GOP loyalists.

State of play: From appointing boards that oversee public universities, transportation planning and environmental enforcement to issuing death penalty reprieves, the governor can shape state agencies and policy in his or her image.

• The governor also appoints judges to serve out the terms of jurists who step down before their terms end.

Zoom in: In his three terms as Texas' governor, Abbott has systematically expanded gubernatorial power.

• He ordered state agencies to submit rule proposals to his office before they go out for public comment.
• Abbott used his emergency authority during the COVID-19 pandemic to both require masks in public and later bar local governments and businesses from imposing mask mandates.
• Relying on a disaster declaration he issued, Abbott expanded border operations during President Biden's term.

How it works: The governor appoints the board members of the three-member Texas Commission on Environmental Quality;

• The regents of public university systems;
• The boards of many river authorities, which manage water resources for much of the state;
• The Texas Transportation Commission, which approves highway expansions and oversees the Department of Transportation.

Case in point: The governor can direct his appointees to take certain actions. In 2023, Abbott called on the state parole board, whose members he had appointed, to recommend the release of convicted killer Daniel Perry and the restoration of his firearm rights.

• Abbott then issued a proclamation pardoning Perry, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence for killing a Black Lives Matter protester in Austin in 2020, after the board issued a unanimous recommendation of full pardon.

Should she be elected, Hinojosa will have the chance to use those same tools as Abbott to remake state government.

Zoom in: Hinojosa has said if elected governor, she would fire Texas Education Agency commissioner Mike Morath, who has overseen state takeovers of public school districts.

Reality check: The terms of political appointees to boards and commissions are typically staggered and new appointees require Texas Senate confirmation.

• A governor generally can't replace members simply because they disagree with a new administration.
• And while the governor can take some limited, immediate policy action — a Gov. Hinojosa could grant a 30-day reprieve in capital cases — big policy changes like a long-term death penalty moratorium couldn't be done single-handedly.
• Hinojosa could name a new head of Texas Health and Human Services, but that person can neither unilaterally expand Medicaid nor change eligibility for SNAP benefits, Thomas Suehs, a former executive commissioner of the agency, tells Axios.

Between the lines: The governor needs the cooperation of other elected officials (such as the lieutenant governor, who presides over the state Senate), to write his or her policies into law.

What they're saying: "Bargaining will be key," University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus tells Axios.

The intrigue: Veto power would likely be a Gov. Hinojosa's most powerful weapon, Rottinghaus says.

• That itself would lead to bargaining, as lawmakers hope to get their bills approved into law, he said.

🏀 The Dallas Mavericks have parted ways with Dwight Powell, whose 12 years with the team spanned the Dirk Nowitzki, Luka Dončić and Cooper Flagg eras. (DMN)

🗳️ Ballot printer issues forced some Collin County early voting locations to turn away voters yesterday morning. The issues appear to be resolved. (NBC5)

🚨 A mall security guard was charged with murder in the killing of a jewelry theft suspect in Fort Worth. (FOX4).

If elected, Gina Hinojosa would be Texas' first Latina governor — but she would not be the first woman to hold the office.

Flashback: Texas has had two female governors: Democrats Miriam "Ma" Ferguson and Ann Richards.

• Ferguson served two nonconsecutive terms in the 1920s and 1930s, after her husband stepped down as governor amid allegations of misusing public funds. Her policies included restrictions on the Ku Klux Klan.
• Richards was governor from 1991-95. Her state board and agency appointments represented the state's diversity, including minorities, LGBTQ individuals and people with disabilities. North Texans were particularly drawn to her one-liners.

Worthy of your time: If you really want to get granular, Texas' legislative research library lists all of the state's governors and includes context for the historically significant ones.

• Click on the names for some very cool portraits.

Fun fact: Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican, was the first woman from Texas to serve in the U.S. Senate. She served from 1993 to 2013.

This newsletter was edited by Bob Gee.

Our picks:

🪧 Naheed is reading about the recent riots in Italy and France.

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