{"id":310517,"date":"2026-05-27T09:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/310517\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:14:23","slug":"texas-democratic-primary-runoff-picks-nominee-for-lieutenant-governor-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/310517\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Democratic primary runoff picks nominee for lieutenant governor race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

DALLAS \u2014 Texas<\/a> Democratic voters selected state Rep. Vikki Goodwin as their nominee for lieutenant governor Tuesday night, defeating Marcos V\u00e9lez in the party\u2019s primary runoff and setting up a November showdown against Republican incumbent Dan Patrick.<\/p>\n

The contest became a test of what direction Texas Democrats want to take in the general election<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Goodwin, who took office in 2019, campaigned on boosting public school funding and teacher pay, expanding Medicaid, investing in water infrastructure and repealing Texas\u2019 abortion ban.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, V\u00e9lez, who worked in Texas refineries and is a member of the United Steelworkers union, centered his campaign on property tax relief, raising the minimum wage and affordability measures aimed at working families and seniors.<\/p>\n

\u2018PUT US DOWN FOR KEN PAXTON\u2019: TRUMP ENDORSEMENT ENERGIZES TEXAS VOTERS AHEAD OF RUNOFF<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Texas <\/p>\n

State Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin campaigned as a longtime advocate for public schools, while also focusing on housing affordability, water infrastructure, abortion access and expanding Medicaid. (Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The lieutenant governor\u2019s office presides over the Senate, controls the chamber\u2019s agenda, appoints committee chairs and can break tie votes \u2014 powers that give the position major influence over which bills reach the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n

The lieutenant governor also helps craft the state budget as co-chair of the Legislative Budget Board and serves on the Legislative Redistricting Board, which redraws political maps if lawmakers fail to do so.<\/p>\n

Polls<\/a> closed across Texas at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with turnout expected to be significantly lower than during the March primary election.<\/p>\n

TRUMP FLEXES MAGA MUSCLE IN TEXAS SENATE RUNOFF CLASH BETWEEN CORNYN AND PAXTON<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Marcos <\/p>\n

Marcos Velez is the Democratic candidate for Texas lieutenant governor in the 2026 election. (Gabriel V. Cardenas\/Reuters)<\/p>\n

During his decade as lieutenant governor, Patrick has pushed the Legislature steadily to the right and built a strong network of Republican allies within the Senate. Political observers say his defeat in November would create a major power vacuum in Texas Republican politics and significantly reshape dynamics inside the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Still, while the lieutenant governor currently holds sweeping authority, much of that power comes from Senate rules approved at the start of each legislative session.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Democratic candidates for Texas lieutenant governor faced off in Tuesday\u2019s primary runoff election, with the winner advancing to challenge Republican incumbent Dan Patrick in November. (Jordan Vonderhaar\/Bloomberg)<\/p>\n

If a Democrat were to win office in November, the Republican-controlled Senate could move to rewrite those rules and reduce the lieutenant governor\u2019s powers, potentially altering how the chamber operates.<\/p>\n

Amanda covers the intersection of business and politics for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! DALLAS \u2014 Texas Democratic voters selected state Rep. Vikki Goodwin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23498,31095,67102,31106,39208,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-310517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-democrats-elections","tag-midterm-elections","tag-primary-results","tag-republicans-elections","tag-senate-elections","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}