Two Democrats are vying to unseat Republican incumbent Dan Patrick—who has been in office for over 10 years—to become Texas’ next Lieutenant Governor in November.
Neither state Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin) nor Marcos Vélez, a labor and union leader, received more than 50% of the vote in their primary, so they are headed to a runoff on May 26. Goodwin received 48% of the vote to Vélez’s 31%. A third candidate, Courtney Head, received 20%.
The Lt. Gov. of Texas is elected to a four year term, and serves as the state’s highest-ranking legislative official, presiding over the Texas Senate and second-in-command to the Governor. The role sets the legislative agenda, helps develop the state budget, appoints Senate committee members and chairs, controls which bills receive votes, and casts the deciding vote in the event of a tie.
It’s often described as one of the most powerful roles in the Texas government.
Hear from each candidate and learn more about their top priorities for the Texas Legislature below.
‘Unapologetically progressive’
Vélez is a blue-collar labor and union leader from Houston who is running “because Texans deserve someone that has actually delivered for working class people,” he told Courier Texas.
“ I’m here fighting for normal, everyday working class Texans,” he said. “I tell people very proudly I have the lowest net worth of any candidate in this race, and I’m proud of that. It keeps me grounded in reality and it also shows that the things I’m going to prioritize are going to be things that benefit normal people.”
According to the Texas Tribune, Vélez has around $13,000 cash on hand in campaign funds compared to Goodwin’s $159,313 and Patrick’s $37.7 million.
Vélez argues that to win, Democrats must be unapologetically progressive.
“We have to lean into our progressive values,” he said. “We have to call it like it is. What’s going on in Gaza, what’s going on in Iran? They’re their genocides, they’re violations of international law. When you look at the fact that politicians are scared to stand on the right side of history, what’s more important? Getting elected, or actually doing what’s right?”
As the assistant director for the United Steelworkers, Vélez has negotiated with major corporations for safer conditions, fair pay, and stronger benefits. He says that experience—including pushing for programs benefiting women, marginalized communities and people of color in conservative strongholds—will serve him well as Lt. Gov.
“When people are trying to push DEI like it’s a bad thing amongst very conservative groups, I’ve helped them understand that we are not eliminating your opportunities, we’re just building an equal access point for people that have been traditionally boxed out,” he said. “And I think when you talk to people on levels that make sense to them, it’s really easy to see that progressive agendas are popular. It’s messaging that’s unpopular and we have to get ahead of the messaging.”
Vélez’s said his top priority is “economic upward mobility for Texans” and his first priorities as Lt. Gov. would be raising the state minimum wage, expand healthcare access and increase access to low-cost housing.
“ I believe there’s a hierarchy of needs,” he said. “I believe that unless people can feed and clothe themselves, they’re not too concerned about any other things. I believe that better wages allow people to focus on other things, and once people can feed and clothe and take care of their children, then we can focus on those other things. But people are starving in these streets and it’s just unacceptable.”
On how he will approach the job compared to Patrick, Vélez said he’s genuinely interested in advancing a progressive agenda that benefits all working Texans, not just the wealthy.
“I’m not going to make decisions based on my own personal religious beliefs,” he said. “If it raises wages, expands healthcare access or increases affordable housing, I’m for it. I’m not going to sell out any marginalized group for political gain. Patrick spends a lot of time on culture wars. I’m more concerned with funding classrooms than what hangs on the walls of classrooms.”
Getting back to the ‘Texas Miracle’
Goodwin was elected to the Texas House in 2018, and has consistently ranked as one of the most progressive Texas House members.
A former real estate agent, she said she never expected to run for office—until Trump’s 2016 victory compelled her to act.
“ I just felt like I had to do something more, so I decided to run for the Texas legislature,” she told Courier Texas.
Education is Goodwin’s top priority, and the reason she first ran for office.
“My mom had served on the Dallas School Board, and her big complaint was that it’s not the school board that decides how much funding we get for our teachers and our schools—it’s the Texas Legislature. Her big complaint was that the legislature was underfunding our schools, so that’s why I decided to run for a House seat here in Austin.”
If elected as Lt. Gov., Goodwin said one of her top priorities would be to end Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s private school voucher program.
“I’m not in favor of the voucher program that is currently sending a billion dollars to private schools, but could escalate to much more,” she said. “I’m not going to allow any dollars in our budget to go to private schools. That would essentially end the voucher program, and that’s my intent.”
She also said she plans to reform the state’s school funding formula, which she describes as “incredibly complicated.”
“ I want to make the formula less complicated and allow the individual districts to have an easier time managing their budget,” she said. “I want to increase the basic allotment so that we are catching up to inflation. Last session we did increase it by $55, which is absolutely nothing. I want to make sure that our teachers truly can get the raises that they deserve.”
“We are now paying our teachers $5,000 a year less than a decade ago, based on inflation,” she added. “So we need to make sure that we’re paying our teachers well and staunching the flow of teachers leaving the profession. We need to make sure that we’re respecting our teachers, giving them the support they need and the pay that they need.”
In order to get back to the “Texas Miracle,” Goodwin said we need to make sure everyone has the same and equal opportunity to thrive in the state, and that starts with education.
“ We need to be educated, we need an educated workforce,” she said. “Businesses should be very concerned because we want to make sure that we can have both employees and consumers. That’s what will make us continue to have this Texas Miracle. It’s really important, and education provides the opportunity, so I will continue to always advocate for it.”
Goodwin said that if elected, she would focus on the state’s most pressing challenges rather than using the office’s power as leverage—a criticism she levels at Patrick.
“He uses the power of the purse,” she said. “He will say to a Senator or even a House member, ‘If you want your bill passed, then I need you to vote for this. If you want this money for your district, then I need you to vote for this.’ He uses his leverage, his power, to get the issues that he wants passed, and a lot of that is culture wars.”
Goodwin wants Texas to rank higher in education, have a healthcare system that’s attainable for all Texans, and create a strong infrastructure, and said that starts with a leadership change in the Texas Legislature.
“ We’re seeing a very broken healthcare system,” Goodwin said. “We’re seeing affordability issues, prices are rising, and the legislature truly can have an impact on those things.The legislature truly has an impact on policy that affects people’s everyday lives and how their tax dollars are spent. If you care about how your tax dollars are spent at the state level, you really should be paying attention to your state government.”
