HARLINGEN, Texas - State Rep. Vickie Goodwin of Austin says the way the Texas Senate operates will be dramatically change if she is elected lieutenant governor.
“There would be a huge change in the Senate and the way it operates,” Goodwin told the Rio Grande Guardian. “I want to make sure senators understand that they are there to represent their communities. Right now, the lieutenant governor strong arms the senators into voting his way instead of having thorough debate on the issues, I look forward to having thorough debate, making sure that our budget reflects our priorities, and it will be very different.”
Goodwin, a Democrat, is running against incumbent Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in the November general election. She spoke at a “Meet the Candidates” Forum hosted by Northern Cameron County Democrats at La Sierra Event Center in Harlingen on Saturday evening.
“Tonight we're here, a lot of the statewide candidates, to talk to voters and let them know what we're running on, what our platform is. Mine is supporting our public schools, fixing our broken healthcare system, addressing affordability, and planning for our future water and energy needs here in Texas,” Goodwin told the Guardian, before going on stage.
Asked what she is hearing from voters, Goodwin said: “We're hearing that voters are very unhappy about the economy, about prices going up at the grocery store, gas station, healthcare, and that they feel like their current leaders aren't listening to them. We've also heard a lot of people coming out over data centers and a backlash to the data centers because of all the water and energy that they use and all sorts of issues. Voters don't feel current leadership is addressing their issues, and so we're ready to step in.”
What we're seeing right now in the last few weeks is that 10s of millions of dollars been poured into the state with attack ads, negative ads against the Democratic candidates, how do you fight that?
Political analysts say Democratic candidates are at a huge disadvantage in Texas because they are being heavily outspent by their opponent. Goodwin was asked how Democratic candidates counter the tens of millions of dollars that have poured in to pay for attack ads.
She responded: “Well, a couple ways. First of all, there were some deepfake ads my opponent posted against me that showed me in video saying things that I didn't really say. So I filed a police report, and he actually pulled them down because state law says that you can't run deepfake ads within 30 days of an election, so that's one way. Another way is we have people power. Yes, they are going to spend tens of millions of dollars with misinformation, but I think people understand these days that a lot of that is not true. People are behind us because we are running on the issues that will make a difference in their lives and make Texas a better place.”
Asked what the latest polls show for her race, Goodwin said: “There have been two polls done by Texas A&M that had me coming out ahead of Dan Patrick.”
Here is a video recording of the Guardian’s interview with Goodwin:
Here is a video recording of Goodwin’s remarks from the podium:
