Dan Patrick Seeks a Fourth Term Running the Texas Senate. Here Is Where He and Vikki Goodwin Differ

The lieutenant governor rarely gets the attention the governor does, but few officials shape state law more. On Tuesday, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asks voters for a fourth term against Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin.

Green Party candidate Kevin McCormick and Libertarian Anthony Cristo are also on the ballot, according to KSAT's statewide ballot listing.

Why the job matters

The lieutenant governor presides over the Texas Senate. Under chamber rules adopted by a simple majority of senators, the office appoints committee chairs, decides which committees hear which bills and controls when most bills come up for a vote, The Texan reported.

Patrick has used that power. In 2015 he pushed to lower the number of votes needed to bring a bill up for debate from 21 to 19, and in 2021 the threshold dropped to 18, KUT and The Texas Newsroom reported. That lets Republicans move bills without Democratic support. Democrats said it weakened the Senate's tradition of compromise. Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, supported the changes but admitted, "It's easier to pass bad legislation."

Whoever wins will work alongside the governor, and the balance between those offices matters. We looked at what a governor can and cannot do alone last week.

Two very different paths

Patrick came to Houston in 1979 as a KHOU sportscaster, later ran KSEV radio and built a conservative talk audience around lowering property taxes. He won a state Senate seat in 2006, entered the chamber in 2007 and beat Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the 2014 Republican runoff before winning that fall.

Goodwin has served three terms in the Texas House, where she sits on the Appropriations and Insurance committees. She has worked to raise her name recognition with town halls and an RV tour of the state.

Where they stand

Property taxes. Patrick's "Operation Double Nickel" would freeze homestead school property taxes starting at age 55 and raise the homestead exemption to $180,000 for homeowners under 55 and $240,000 for seniors. It would need approval from lawmakers and voters. Goodwin wants a lower assessment cap for landlords who charge fair-market rent or less, homestead exemptions applied automatically at closing and a bigger Homes for Texas Heroes program.

School choice. Patrick has pushed school choice since his first Senate term. The 2025 program got $1 billion to launch for the 2026-27 school year, and he wants to expand it. Goodwin calls such programs "voucher schemes" and lists higher teacher pay and more per-student funding as her top priority.

THC. Patrick pushed a total ban on intoxicating THC that passed the Legislature in 2025 before Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed it. "If people want to vote me out of office for that, so be it," he said. Goodwin would regulate THC for adults 21 and older, "just like alcohol," with labeling rules and limits on sales near schools.

Library books. Patrick wants a law that would lower a school district's academic rating if its libraries keep books that violate the state ban on "profane" and "indecent" material. Goodwin says districts should handle parents' concerns locally through the complaint process.

Data centers. Goodwin says it is "time to end the subsidies" and wants data centers to pay their fair share for power and water. Patrick gave three Senate committees interim charges to weigh data centers' economic benefits against their effects on communities and water.

What the polls say

Of a dozen nonpartisan polls this cycle, Patrick led in nine, including every poll with more than 1,000 respondents, The Texan found. The latest University of Houston, Texas Public Opinion Research and Texas Southern University polls had Patrick up 3 to 5 points. Goodwin led by 1 to 3 points in three earlier polls.

Name recognition is Goodwin's hurdle. A late-October TSU poll found 47% of respondents did not know enough about her to form an opinion, compared with 10% for Patrick. "You don't even know my opponent's name," Patrick told a rally crowd.

Patrick did not respond to The Texas Newsroom's interview request.

Weigh it carefully

The governor's race gets the headlines, and it has tightened. But the lieutenant governor sets the Senate agenda. Christians on both sides can agree that the office deserves a voter who has read the record, not one who skips the line on the ballot.