The Lieutenant Governor has enormous power and almost no name recognition. This office runs the Texas Senate — deciding which bills get a vote and which quietly die — and appoints every Senate committee chair, the gatekeepers who decide what reaches the floor at all.
The Democratic candidate
Vikki Goodwin
DemocratAbout Vikki
Goodwin sold houses in Austin for decades, then at 51 knocked on her first political door and beat a sitting Republican for a seat his party had held for years. Now she's running against Dan Patrick — the man who's run the Texas Senate for a decade — and most Texans still don't know her name. That's the whole race.
She and her husband built a real-estate firm together before she ran in 2018. In the House she co-wrote the 2019 school-finance overhaul and the bill that raised retired teachers' pensions, passed a child-drowning-prevention law and a domestic-violence protection law named for the women they're meant to save, and filed universal background checks for gun buyers. She sits on Appropriations — the committee that writes the budget — rare for a Democrat. Patrick has $30 million; the latest poll has him at 49 to her 44, with more than half of voters saying they don't know enough about her yet.
Also on the ballot
Every candidate who filed for this office appears here. Tap a name to read more.
Dan PatrickAbout Dan
His real last name is Goeb. He's from Baltimore. He put Rush Limbaugh on the radio — and then took over Texas.
Patrick built a conservative talk radio empire in Houston before entering politics, becoming one of the first programmers in the country to air Rush Limbaugh in 1988. He survived bankruptcy, a leaked hospitalization record from 1982, and his own admission of depression to become the architect of Texas's abortion ban, school voucher push, and voting restrictions.
Anthony Cristo
About Anthony
A high school debate teacher and Navy veteran who enlisted at 36 to become a hospital corpsman after years working in cancer research outreach.
Cristo, from the San Antonio area, graduated magna cum laude from the University of the Incarnate Word in 2002 and worked as a Cancer Information Specialist for the American Cancer Society before becoming a high school English and debate teacher in Judson ISD. He later enlisted in the Navy at 36 and served as a hospital corpsman. He previously ran for Congress in Texas' 15th District (2018) and 34th District (2020), and is now the Libertarian nominee for lieutenant governor.
Kevin McCormickAbout Kevin
A former teacher running on a platform of expanding public transit and building rural farm cooperatives.
McCormick is a former teacher and the Green Party nominee for lieutenant governor. His campaign focuses on expanding bus service in Texas cities, building family-farm greenhouse cooperatives in rural areas, and election reforms including ranked-choice voting. His campaign site notes he expects little media coverage and is relying on word-of-mouth to reach voters.
Where to vote
Hays County uses vote centers — any registered Hays County voter can vote at any open location in the county. Locations and hours by city: