In the June 21 episode, Texas voters hear from the candidates who want to be Lieutenant Governor. Incumbent Republican Dan Patrick explains what else he’d like to accomplish if elected to a fourth term. Democratic nominee Vikki Goodwin, a state Representative, is looking to build up her profile with voters outside of the Austin area. And Mike Collier is trying to run as an independent, but a court will have to decide if he makes the ballot at all.
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Straight ahead the race for one of the state's most powerful positions. All three candidates for Texas lieutenant governor on the program, Republican Dan Patrick on why he wants four more years, and his response to what Senator John Cornyn said about him. Democrat Vicki Goodwin, on the issue she thinks will drive voters to the polls.
And the biggest misconception about Democrats and Independent Mike Collier suing to get on the ballot, whether he can still qualify for it if his case doesn't get heard in time, and why Republicans are bringing a national convention to Texas just months before the election. The strategy behind it coming up.
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Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely starts now. Thank you for being here. Let's begin, as always, with the top political headlines happening across our state. Texas Democrats will be meeting in Corpus Christi in a matter of days here for their state convention. The party chairman, Kendall Scudder, also faces a challenge from Monique Alcala.
There, you know, Texas Republicans just had their big gathering in Houston, and the GOP party chair, Abraham George, lost his reelection to his number two, Dorinda Randall. Texas Republicans, though also formally opposing in-vitro fertilization IVF as a new tenant in their party platform. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says the RNC is going to host a national convention in Dallas later this summer.
You know, Paxton said, President Trump is going to headline this in September. The GOP has not done as well when Trump is not on the ballot. The idea here to rally Republicans to go vote ahead of what is likely going to be a tough November reelection for them. The Republican National Committee, though, has yet to officially announce any type of mid-term convention.
And the US Supreme Court formally expanding gun rights ruling it's not a crime for marijuana users to have guns. A North Texas man challenged a law that prohibited people from who illegally used drugs from owning guns. Justices said that ban violates the Second Amendment. This is a loss for the Trump administration, and notable because justices are using it to expand gun rights.
All right, let's start right now with what is arguably the most influential political office in the state, the lieutenant governor. The person who oversees the state Senate and decides which legislation lives or dies leading us off. The two candidates, Republican Dan Patrick, followed by Democrat Vicki Goodwin.
Governor Patrick, welcome back to the program. Here you are running for a fourth term. What more do you want to do in the next four years? You haven't already done? So. There's a lot a lot that needs to continue to be done. But on property taxes. And you and I have been working on this a long time. We increase the homestead exemption to $200,000 for seniors, as you recall last year, which has wiped out school property taxes for the average senior homeowner wiped them out.
Uh, that's 200,000. Under 65 is 140,000. I want to take them to 200,000. Right now, we've cut school taxes about 40% for the average homeowner. I want to continue to increase that. But one of the things I want to do this session, Jason, is currently to get the home values frozen. You have to be 65 years of age.
I want to reduce that to 55. After all, if you go into Denny's, you only have to be 55 to get the Grand Slam breakfast as a senior. So why do we arbitrarily say your home values are frozen at 65? So in the state I'm going to reduce them down. I call it the double nickel 55 to get down to 55. That will save the average homeowner thousands of dollars 12 to 15,000 or more, depending on the price of the home over the ten years between 55 and 65.
And it will freeze their values at 55 instead of 65. So that's a big issue I want to follow up on. I'm still focused on the THC issue. Um, we need to get that out. The smoke shops closed. We need to get these products that are we're selling heroin in these gas stations, not the big chain, you know, convenience stores.
I'm talking about these little mom and pops and all these neighborhoods. So that's a focus. And so a lot more to do. And I love what I do. And I've got a great Senate. And so that's why we're running. Let me ask you about a new way of campaigning that we've seen from you that we haven't seen from other Texas political candidates.
You're now using AI, artificial intelligence, and some of your ads. Uh, these are obvious AI because, you know, there's the Alamo. There's, you know, a number of other older scenes that you've used in here. Why do you think that's more effective? What I wanted to do is something different. And let's go back in time.
So I'm I'm at Independence Hall, I'm with Paul Revere, I'm at the Alamo. I'll be doing many more of these to go back in time to remind people of who we are as a country and as a state, and what principles and values that we believe in and bring it forward to how it applies to today. Too many people in this country.
I do not know what our values and principles really are, what the founders really intended, and the and the state. What did they fight for? At the Alamo, it was liberty and independence and freedom. We're still fighting for that today. So that's why I wanted to do these ads, and it's a lot of fun. Governor, we all watched the Republican Party of Texas convention in Houston the other day.
You've called on Republicans to unite. You say that's essential to victory, yet it still seems on the outside looking in that there's still a lot of hurt feelings here. We we saw the tweet that John Cornyn sent back saying you should be worried about your own reelection. What was your reaction to that? And how divided are Texas Republicans right now?
Well, I found that, um, kind of laughable from John since the week before he, he, uh, uh, Senator Cornyn, a 30 year friend of mine, a very good person. But, you know, the week before he passed out, it's going to be a massacre at the top of the ticket. So you can't have it both ways. Senator Cornyn, you're calling for a massacre.
You're saying Donald Trump is going to be a disaster in the last two years, and then Republicans are worried about losing. Well. Yes, because Republicans like John and others may decide not to support the candidates who won. And again, you know, I think we've built the party on John Shoulders. You got elected in 1985 the first time, and he lost a tough election.
But it used to be Jason, not that long ago when you lost an election, you supported the winner because we are in the same party. So I understand the angst there is. I understand the disappointment for Senator Cornyn. I understand the the hurt, you know, when voters have turned to someone else. But the voters have sent him there for 24 years and into the US Senate, a privileged life.
The voters decided to make a change. So when he says, I'm not supporting the ticket, what that really says to me, it has nothing to do with Ken Paxton. He's not he's not supporting the voter's choice. Uh, governor, always great to see you. I appreciate the time. Sure. Uh, always great to be with you, my friend.
Representative. Thanks for being here. Yeah. You, uh, you're running against an incumbent who has won statewide three times. He has $30 million in the bank. Arguably the most influential person in the legislature. Where do you see a path to victory? You know, Senator Cornyn said that he should be worried about his position.
And I agree that Patrick should be worried about his position. Correct. Right. After 30 years of Republican leadership, the people of Texas are ready for change. You know, we lieutenant governor talks about the Texas miracle, but so many people feel like they aren't a part of that miracle. The path to victory is is simple.
People are ready for leadership, for someone with problem solving. Someone who has a steady hand and is ready to help the people of Texas, not divert attention away on issues that really don't impact them in their daily lives. Texas is no Dan Patrick. And they have for a number of years they don't know Vicki Goodwin outside Austin though.
What's your pitch to a suburban or rural voter in this state who doesn't know you? Well, if you care about your public schools, you're going to want new leadership, because in the last session, we sent $1 billion out the door to a private school voucher scam, and that's only going to grow. Our funding of private schools is going to grow exponentially if we continue to have Dan Patrick in office.
I've heard Democrats talk for a while about public schools, and clearly it's something that is a lightning rod issue right now in this state. But people haven't voted when it comes to education on that issue in decades. Well, I think it's now gotten to the point where more people are aware as as neighborhood schools are closing down, Austin is shutting down ten schools.
I know districts across the state have been talking about the schools that are closing when it impacts something right there in your neighborhood, people really do start to take notice. I have a sister in law who is a teacher up in the Allen School District. It's a wealthy school district. They do well, but she asked me, why are we not getting the raises that we expect?
Why is our district having another deficit? And I said it's because the state is not paying its share. Zoom out for a moment here. Top two priorities if elected, what are they funding our public schools? Ending the voucher program. When I'm lieutenant governor, I will not pass a budget that has any money going to a private school voucher scam and then really addressing our health care.
We should not be the state with the highest rate of uninsured. We should not be the state that's known for having the highest rate of maternal mortality. You know, my daughter in law just had a baby and she fortunately was in Pennsylvania. And unfortunately, I'm sorry that they're so far away, but she's in a state where she could have gotten care if she had a pregnancy complication.
I want to make sure that women in Texas feel safe being pregnant. Biggest misconception about Democrats? What do you think it is that we aren't savvy and business friendly? I have been a small business owner myself and I understand a budget. I understand spending money in a smart way. What the Republicans are doing is not conservative.
It's not spending money in a smart way. As a business owner, I can see that we have a long way to go to make sure that we're using taxpayer dollars wisely in Texas. Representative. Good luck to you. Thank you.
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Our unedited interviews with each candidate make up this week's episode of all the questions and answers that we did not have time for in this program, you can see that uncut version right now. Listen to it available wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's bring in the roundtable to talk about this here.
Bud Kennedy is with us from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Abby Livingston, our friend from New York, is with us, a contributor at Puck News. And, of course, Ashley Goudeau, political director at Kvue in Austin. But let me start with you. You know, at face value, this race just does not feel competitive right now.
Am I wrong about that? It doesn't. But remember that Dan Patrick has had a closer race. He's he's run behind Greg Abbott most of these sessions because Dan Patrick has a few more people who don't like him. The the particular the THC vote is still motivated to come out and vote against him, including the veterans who are very much want to have a wider choice of THC.
Then you have sports gamblers. Jason, there are millions of people in Texas who are made made to be criminals every fall because of sports gambling. They're not arrested or charged because juries wouldn't convict them. But the sports gamblers, the people who want more freedom in Texas, will not vote for Dan Patrick.
They may skip over that blank on the ballot. Abby, what's your read on this? I think that what is different this year is the ascent of James Talarico. And whether he has coattails won, if he can flip the seat, which most people think the seat is in play, which is very unusual. Uh, what the environment is with Donald Trump in the midterms.
And then also, I do think the public school issue, which first is going to come to a head in the fall, could also impact this. I still think it's unlikely that the lieutenant governor seat could flip, but this is a very tumultuous environment. Ashley.
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Yeah, I agree with Abby. I just think that it's going to be hard to stop the machine that is Dan Patrick from winning again. I think we could go and has her work cut out for her. She still has got to get her name out. People still don't know who she is. And it's already June. So we've got, you know, she's got a big road ahead of her.
She's going to try to flip that seat. Indeed. So all right guys, back to you in just a moment. A lot more ahead here. Including this.
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When we come back. Independents will decide who wins in November. So why is it so challenging for an independent candidate to qualify for the ballot. Mike Collier. Going to court to change that law. Next on Inside Texas Politics.
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Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics. There is a third candidate running for Texas lieutenant governor and independent, Mike Collier, who is not on the ballot but suing to get there, saying the requirements to qualify in Texas are practically impossible for anyone running as an independent. Hey, Mike, welcome back to the program here.
Let me ask you a basic question on this legal action right out of the gate here. Why file a lawsuit instead of simply trying to meet the requirements? Well, first of all, I'm not the only Texan who has considered running as an independent. And before I launched this campaign, I talked to a number of folks who have considered it, and they all said, Mike, it can't be done.
It can't be done. And I thought, well, I can do it. But then when I realized they're right, it can't be done. That tells me that there's a problem with the law. I'm required, to, believe it or not, to come up with 82,000 signatures, and I have to interact with each person. Uh, or my surrogates, too. Or my volunteers, too.
Um, and I have 30 days to do it, and it just can't be done. That's not American. It's not constitutional. Lots of good people have thought about running for office as an independent and haven't for a good reason. And so that's why I decided to file this suit. What exactly are you asking the federal court to do?
What do you want them to to rule on? Well, I mean, I think it's reasonable for candidates who want to be on the ballot to do something to show that they have a modicum of support, which is the terms that the courts use. But it has to be reasonable. It has to be doable. And I don't mind it being a challenge, but it can't be just completely impossible.
And Texas has, um, is the toughest requirement. It makes no sense. You know, it's it's 82,000 now. It'll be 100,004 years from now because it's based on how many people vote for governor, and it'll be 120,000 votes. And it just makes absolutely no sense. So it has to be something that a candidate can do. Let it be challenging, but the candidate has to be able to do it, and that's the problem.
If the court doesn't act before this filing deadline is over, this 30 day period here, can you still qualify for the ballot? Will you still qualify? No. I mean, it depends on how the courts decide to deal. There's two things that are happening here. One is addressing the law and I think for future reference and for the state and for reasons that I'm running as an independent, I'd like to see others better than me, smarter than me running as an independent.
I'd like to get the courts to say this is not the right answer. You know, Jason. Half the country are independents. Uh, there are more independents than there are Republicans. They're more independents than they are Democrats. So we have to solve this problem. And that may not come in time for my particular campaign.
I understand that, um, however, they might say, and, you know, for Collier, uh, since I've had 9 million votes cast for me, it's kind of hard to say that I'm a frivolous candidate. Um, they might very well say, okay, we'll give an extension. We'll let you have some more time. A lower number. We'll just see what the courts say.
From my perspective, the most important thing is for future reference for the state of politics in the state. We need to have it possible so that strong independent candidates can own the ballot. And presently they cannot. There are a number of Republicans who are also saying that it's time to to get this change.
This is not right. Did you have trouble recruiting them to this cause? No, no, no, I had no difficulty. You might recall when I ran four years ago, I had a number of Republicans endorsed me, even though I was a Democrat. Sure. And so I felt I wanted to call them. I wanted to inform them of my thinking, see what they thought.
They were enthusiastic that I was going to run as an independent. And when we decided to file this suit, I called him up and I said, hey, join me as a co plaintiff. Do they see the same thing in Texas politics that I do, which is that the two parties are becoming extreme and independent? Who turns up at just the right time will do wonders in terms of moderating Texas politics and getting back to where the parties represent the folks in the middle.
My good luck to you. It's great to talk to you again. Thank you very much, Jason. The roundtable is ready when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics.
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This is inside Texas politics with Jason Whitely.
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All right. Back now with roundtable, but Abby and Ashley all with us here again. Abby, let's start with you. President Trump finally scored that peace deal with Iran. Senator Ted Cruz, one of the first to come out and say, this is just a bad idea.
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Well, the deal has not gone through yet. And so it's still very much an open question whether it comes to pass. But the Iran issue is something that predates Donald Trump. People like Senator Cruz have taken a very hard line on Iran. And so it's interesting that they're pushing back. But I think this issue is a big enough one that some folks are willing to step out.
And he's not the only one bud doing this. Is this a wedge between MAGA and other Republicans, or is this about Cruz positioning himself for 2028? Well, the Texas officials are in a tough spot. I mean, Cruz obviously wants to step out. He's calling it giving billions of dollars to lunatics. But the Texas can't really complain about Trump.
You know, the Texas Republicans would be in a lot worse shape if the war continued and gas were $12 a gallon. And Ashley Cruz isn't on the ballot. You know, Republicans rarely bucked the president. Why is he coming out in and being against this?
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Is he not on the ballot? Are we not already thinking about who's going to be the next president? Politicians are always running, Jason, whether or not it's their election year or not. And I think that when you look at the president's approval ratings and you look at how upset people are right now with the state of the economy, he needs to start now pushing back and drawing attention to himself, setting himself up to be not just another Trump.
Let's talk about Abby, the senior senator. For now, at least, John Cornyn. He remains split with today's Republican Party. We just heard from lieutenant governor a little earlier. He's crossways with Dan Patrick. He's crossways with a number of others. He rejected Bill Pulte as the director of national intelligence.
What's Cornyn going to be like for the rest of this year into January? I think it's going to be a fascinating drama to play out, both in Texas and in Washington. Cornyn did lose, and he lost significantly, but he is absolutely a leader in the old Republican Party, and he still carries a lot of influence. And so if other senators follow suit or a down ballot, politicians in Texas are reluctant to get on the Trump train, it could be very interesting.
And but is there still I know about this old Republican Party, the Bush party, the Reagan Bush party. But but are they out voting anymore? They're voting, but some of them are not going to vote in November. You know, but John Cornyn is presenting an interesting figure to follow. He's he's cranky. He's sarcastic.
You know, suddenly we're seeing a side of John Cornyn. You know, he said that people who don't understand these things are not going to pass the Senate, that don't know math, that it shows how bad math is in the schools, that the House keeps thinking these laws will pass. And actually, they're right. This is not the John Cornyn we have seen for the last 20 something years.
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No, but I am here for it. This is the John Cornyn we want to see. This is the John Cornyn that we are interested. Just be honest, John. Just call him out straight up. Give us all your Texas attitude. Call him how you see him. We are here for the ride. Yeah, indeed. I wonder if things would have been different had he, you know, had we seen this John Cornyn earlier on.
Abby, you know, you watch a lot of election cycles here. Let's talk about independence here. For the last few moments. It's been years since we've really had independents running for statewide offices here. The two party system has just made it impossible, almost impossible for that to happen. There's no incentive, though, for them to change it.
So there's nothing going to change from Mike Colyer or anyone else who decides they want to run without party affiliation, is there? I mean, most likely not. The parties passed these laws on purpose, and it's to maintain their power. And those candidates tend to end up being spoilers more than anything.
But on the other hand,
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in this polarized environment, there are so many people who are homeless politically that the environment seems ripe for it, even if the laws are not. Yeah, and but final few seconds here. But but the environment totally seems ripe for it. I mean, could something emerge? We did this in Texas 20 years ago.
We had Grandma Strayhorn, Kiki Friedman. Neither party liked it. Both parties felt like they were hurt. So both parties got together and put tighter limits on it. Yeah. And we'll see if anything changes. But yeah. Who knows? Abby, you're right about politically homeless right now. Guys, thanks so much.
We appreciate that. Thank you for watching as well. We're back next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics. We hope to see you then. Take care.
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Thank you.