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Ep. 11: The Most Powerful Job in Texas: Lt. Governor (Rep. Vikki Goodwin)
57 Plays1 month ago
In this episode of Mission: Texas, we talk with State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, a Democratic candidate for Texas Lieutenant Governor, about why this office holds outsized power in Texas politics and how that power impacts everyday Texans.
We also discuss Dan Patrick's leadership (or lack thereof) and how the past Democratic candidate, Mike Collier, is now running as an "independent." (right...) We also discuss:
- Why centralized power in the Texas Senate blocks bipartisan solutions
- Public education as the foundation for Texas’ future
- Healthcare, affordability, housing, and water as core kitchen-table issues
- What it takes to flip Texas long-term through grassroots organizing and party infrastructure
Note: This conversation was recorded before the filing deadline for candidates. Since recording, additional candidates have filed to run for Texas Lieutenant Governor.
Follow us on social media: @missiontexaspodcast and @goodwin4texas.
Subscribe, share this episode, and leave a review to help more Texans find the show!
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Transcript
Introduction to Mission Texas and Key Players
00:00:00
Speaker
Howdy. This is Mission Texas. A political podcast about winning Texas by 2032 or else we may lose the White House for a generation. I'm one of your hosts, Alex Clark.
00:00:13
Speaker
And I am Kate Rumsey. Other podcasts may focus on the day-to-day the next election. But we are keeping the eyes of Texas on the bigger prize. What happens after the next census?
00:00:28
Speaker
Welcome back to Mission Texas. Today we are joined by the sole, as of today, November 14th, just so everyone knows when we're recording, the sole candidate for lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary, Vicki Goodwin, a double longhorn and and a state representative who actually flipped a seat in 2018, as I understand it.
00:00:47
Speaker
Yes, I did. And I am a double one. about that i we I want to know about your your I always like to hear about the origin story of someone getting into public office. Yeah, well, 18 as as a listener to this podcast now is a great year for Texas Democrats. So tell us about what happened.
00:01:06
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and after the 2016 election, many of us were in shock that Trump won. I mean, we all were saying there's no way this man would ever win. the presidency. And so when when it happened, many of us decided to run for office, many Democrats. I decided to run for the legislature for a very specific reason, and that is that when I was growing up, my mom was on the Dallas school board, and she would often talk about the school funding wasn't adequate, we couldn't pay our teachers what they deserve. Et cetera, et cetera. The same thing is true today. And her frustration was that it wasn't the school board that made that decision. It was the Texas legislature.
00:01:43
Speaker
And so that's why I decided to run for the legislature. The seat at the time was held by a four-term incumbent Republican. And so a lot of people were skeptical that I could beat him. it was like, this is Travis County, all the other seats are Democratic, but this is the one seat that was drawn for a Republican and it's not gonna flip. So I definitely faced a lot of skepticism at the time, but you know that just shows that we don't think big enough in the Democratic party because we flipped 12 seats. 12 of us were out there working hard, talking to people face-to-face at their doors and at events and in coffee shops. And that really was one of the things that I think propelled me to win and those 11 other Democrats who won was being out in the community as much as possible, talking to people, regardless of their positions, and just talking about things that we all have in common. We all want a great education for our kids. We all want to have access to healthcare, care to water, to affordability, to good paying jobs. And so just talking to people about my background, which is as a residential real estate broker, a small business owner, I have been faced with the escalating health insurance costs for a small business owner. And so I could relate to people on that. I could relate to people about our public schools and our concern for them um on so many different things. And i just think that our message, people often say Democrats don't know how to message. I i think we do know how to message. But it's hard to break through the fo what I call the Fox fog.
00:03:18
Speaker
So many people watch Fox and I'm not even going to say Fox News because it's not really news. It's not news. the Dominion case proved that ah wrong. but but Brought by former Attorney General candidate Justin Nelson. Yeah, no, I mean, so you're running for lieutenant
The Role and Influence of Texas Lieutenant Governor
00:03:35
Speaker
governor. And can you help us remind our listeners and ourselves, because I remember from my fifth grade, four state history classes that we all take here in the state of Texas, that lieutenant governor is a highly powerful job here in our state. as opposed to other states and also compared to our governor. Can you remind us like why this race is so important? Because think a lot of people pay attention, of course, to our Senate race and maybe our governor. But like this is the job that gets so much done in our state.
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah, well, the lieutenant governor is sometimes considered the most powerful in Texas. I think the governor and lieutenant governor have kind of equal power, just different. The lieutenant governor heads the Senate.
00:04:16
Speaker
So has the decision-making power of assigning committee chairmen and women and assigning all of the members, senators to committees. And so that alone is a big, big deal, right? Because you have to get your bills through committee to get them to the Senate floor. But also the lieutenant governor decides what bills come to the Senate floor. And because Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is so powerful, he uses his leverage over members. So the one bill that we have to pass every session is our budget.
00:04:46
Speaker
the lieutenant governor has us an outsized say in what goes in the budget. And if a member, if he wants a certain member to vote a certain way on a bill, he might use something in the budget as leverage saying, oh, you want this project, this park, this library, this museum, what have you in your district. Well, then I guess you better vote my way on this bill.
00:05:08
Speaker
So the current Lieutenant Governor wields his power in that way. The Lieutenant Governor is also on the Legislative Budget Board. So again, power of the purse. And that's really critical here in Texas. That's, you know, where how you spend your money is how we can improve people's lives or not.
00:05:27
Speaker
Yeah. So what the thing that stuck out to me in all that is the ability to decide what gets a vote or not. Right. ah Even if there's a bipartisan consensus when the legislature on something, If one man, Dan Patrick right now, decides we're not going vote on that, it doesn't really matter ah where the people are. doesn't even matter where the legislature is.
00:05:47
Speaker
there's not a vote in the Senate, that bill's not making it to the governor to be signed. That's right. Yeah, we even have Republican bills that will pass the House bipartisan, go over to the Senate, and go nowhere because Dan Patrick doesn't like that idea.
00:06:02
Speaker
And so it's unfortunate that he does stop some really good legislation from passing. Yeah. and I think there are probably a few examples of that I can just think of the top of my head where it seems like, but for Dan Patrick being the Lieutenant governor, we would have already done these things. And the ones that jump out to me right now are um some version of decriminalization of marijuana.
00:06:28
Speaker
um Like our neighbors in Oklahoma, every time I go to Beavers Bend State Park with my family, um I'm constantly seeing dispensaries everywhere. Like how did Oklahoma, like a state that is objectively more conservative than Texas, beat us on that? That's one. And then the other one would be, I would say, ah legalized casino style gambling.
00:06:51
Speaker
oh Yep. Yeah. You know, Dan Patrick thinks he knows better than the rest of us. Dan Patrick thinks that he should have say over our morality, I guess you might say. And ah we saw hundreds and hundreds of people come to the Capitol when the bill was being heard about ah banning THC in Texas.
00:07:12
Speaker
There were veterans who came and said, this canna these cannabis products give us an alternative to using opioids for PTSD, for pain management, for all sorts of things. and we saw business owners, we saw Republicans come and say they like the cannabis products that they've gotten used to for so many different things for sleep issues, again, pain management. And, you know, Dan Patrick thinks that he knows better than the rest. Now, I think everybody agrees there should be some regulation, kind of like we have around alcohol, 21 and up.
00:07:45
Speaker
Don't package it to market to kids. Don't sell it right across the street from a high school, you know, things like that, which are sensible. Other states figured this out, right? Right, right.
00:07:57
Speaker
Yeah. And the casino gambling, too. I mean, I think why not put that up to a vote of Texas voters? You know, why not let Texas voters have a say on that? In my opinion, you know, we are sending our tax dollars to other states when people go gambling in Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma. You know, they oh yeah I grew up in Sherman, Texas, so I would go and play Texas Hold'em.
00:08:22
Speaker
Oklahoma. I think in my race, the issue of sports gambling came up and obviously marijuana. And I think the argument is that we're exporting dollars that could be coming back to our state.
00:08:34
Speaker
And I think here the theme with Dan Patrick is that he's ruling over the Senate with an iron fist. And can you like maybe for the, you know, listeners who aren't as familiar with Dan Patrick, can you give us a sense of his leadership style or lack thereof ah in the Senate.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah. Or when someone said, Kate, just don't piss off Dan Patrick. And I thought, why would I, why does that matter to me? Yeah. Well, it is definitely his way or the highway in the Senate. So it's very different in the House and Senate. In the House, we have these buttons we push to vote yes or no. And the board lights up so everybody can see how everyone else has voted. But in the Senate, they do a verbal roll call. And I noticed that they only got through the first five senators' names and then they stopped.
00:09:19
Speaker
And so I asked my senator, what is going on with that? how does How do they know how every other senator is voting? She says, well, Dan Patrick knows how every senator is going to vote on every bill ahead of time.
00:09:31
Speaker
And that's not democratic. Like, what if there is debate and somebody changes their mind? Oh, no, they don't change their mind because Dan Patrick has worked it out ahead of time. And that, to me, is...
00:09:42
Speaker
just not democratic. That's not deliberative. He's not letting people have debate. In fact, there was a motion that came on the on the Senate floor and my senator again was debating it. And he said, Senator, excuse me, but this is not a debatable motion.
00:09:57
Speaker
Every motion is debatable, you know but he he does not like for the senators to speak up or speak against his ideas. And when they do, there is punishment. And that even reaches across to the House. So this session, going into it, there had already been talk about my consideration of running for Lieutenant Governor.
Challenges and Strategies for Democrats in Texas
00:10:20
Speaker
And because Dan Patrick heard about that, he let it be known that none of my bills would get out of committee or go anywhere. And so even in the House, my bills did not get hearings this session. I knew that might be the case going into it because that's the way politics are played here in Texas, particularly with the Lieutenant Governor.
00:10:39
Speaker
But that gave me an opportunity to debate more than I would have normally. Again, sometimes leadership doesn't like for members to step out of line and cause too many you know cause too much trouble, I guess you might say. So getting up at the microphone and speaking and slowing the process down means some bills aren't going to pass because we just are going to run out of time.
00:11:05
Speaker
But I felt like that was something that I could do to bring, highlight some of these bills that they're bringing before us. It gets tiresome because there are so many harmful bills that get brought up.
00:11:17
Speaker
But I did my best to debate and point out some of the negative consequences of some of these bills as they were being heard on the floor. So to educate our our listeners who maybe weren't paying attention the last, you know,
00:11:32
Speaker
decade, uh, this particular race has been, ah kind of dominated by the same two people. Um, in 2018, uh, Mike Collier, along with Justin Nelson, who I referenced a second ago and Beto O'Rourke, they all three came within three points, uh, of, of winning. Um, but then, uh, in 2022, Mike Collier ran again, the same nominee and as the democratic party, nominee, um,
00:11:58
Speaker
I just really emphasizing this for foreshadowing purposes that Mike Collier was the Democratic nominee in 2018 and in 2022 against Dan Patrick.
00:12:09
Speaker
um We learned yesterday that Mike Collier I guess is not a Democrat, despite, you know, if you were to look on his Instagram page today, it's still this the first word on his bio is Democrat. um He's running as an independent, ah apparently, this cycle. um do What are your thoughts on all that? You know, I'm still sorting through my thoughts. it's It's strange to me because the very first conversation I had when I was thinking about running for lieutenant governor was with Mike Collier to see if he planned to run again. And he was like, ah, I'm exhausted. I've had three statewide runs because he ran for comptroller in 2012, 2014 rather, before running for lieutenant governor. So three statewide runs. It's a lot of work traveling around the state. And he didn't win. And so he said, no, I'm not going to run again. And we've had several conversations since then. And he continued to say he wasn't going to run. Although maybe a couple of months ago when we spoke, he said something like, I'm not going to run as a Democrat, or I'm not going to run on the Democratic ticket or something along those lines. And I thought, huh, that's a weird, that's a weird thing to say, but I didn't really think about it at the time. And so I, I think he understands he,
00:13:25
Speaker
likely would not win, he would not win the Democratic primary against me because I have been working very hard these last several months to build the party, to be honest, because I kept hearing from him and Beto and other statewide candidates, we don't have the state party infrastructure that we need. And so I said, well, then we've got to tackle that problem.
00:13:45
Speaker
And I have been working with our county party chairs. I gave out $30,000 of my own campaign money to counties around the state to help them build their party They often in the rural areas feel like they're left behind.
00:13:59
Speaker
They aren't given the resources that they need to do the outreach. There are Democrats probably in every single county in the state, but some counties, because they're in the minority, they're very quiet.
00:14:11
Speaker
They don't get together. They don't do a lot of activities. And so then you can't build. if you If you're not coming out and showing up, it's hard to build a party. So That was part of what I worked on early this year before Kendall Scudder became the state party chair.
00:14:28
Speaker
And last cycle, I helped candidates who were running for the state house. I had so much hope that we would flip some seats. And so I wanted to share how I had flipped my seat with these candidates, letting them know what worked for me for fundraising, messaging, field work.
00:14:42
Speaker
So I have built a lot of relationships over the last couple of years. And I think Mike Collier saw there's no way he's going to win the Democratic primary against someone who's been doing all this work. And so he jumps in as an independent, which I don't know, is very strange to me.
00:14:57
Speaker
He still has to Mike Collier running scared. He's got to get something like 80,000 signatures after the primary, which, you know, that'll be a big hurdle for him. So we'll see if he can even make it on the ballot. Well, it's so disturbing to me because if if I were Dan Patrick or whoever ends up being the Republican nominees, assuming someone runs and and beats him, if I was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, I would want to make sure he got as many signatures as he needed.
00:15:27
Speaker
Because why wouldn't I want to have the nominee for lieutenant governor for the last two cycles be on the same ballot as my Democratic opponent? Like that, to me, yeah don't think it takes a political science degree to see like, this is going to split our vote.
00:15:41
Speaker
Are you concerned about that? Well, I guess, ah you know, perhaps I should be. i just I feel very confident that I have the message that people are interested in saving their public schools, honestly, saving, because right now our state legislature, Governor Abbott and Dan Patrick are just defending and crushing our public schools. Now, I know Mike Collier says he wants to support our public schools, too. But where has he been?
00:16:09
Speaker
during all of the time that I have been on the floor debating and pushing back against these vouchers. and you know i think someone in public office has a much better opportunity to know how the system works and get in and be effective from day one. you know He's a nice guy but where's he been? What's he been doing? Not, yeah, well, not nice enough. He's maybe misled you. But, you know, echoing what you said earlier, ah i had heard prior to everyone announcing when we were wondering who's our statewide and what are art what's our slate, I'd heard your name many times because you had been putting in that work. Everyone... had noticed that you're putting in that. And so I'm curious to hear more about that infrastructure building, but also the messaging that you think it takes to win and to flip Texas. And i i follow all your social media. I've been trying to share it. And I know you're you're focusing, like reminding people how bad is Dan Patrick and also what do we need here in the state of Texas? And I think, you know, we got to have a little bit of this and a little bit of that. So can you speak to like more of the messaging that you anticipate having to have? And I get that it's early, but
00:17:16
Speaker
what you think it really takes to flip a state like this? Yeah, well, you know, I think it all starts with public education. And something that surprised me this cycle was, yes, we pass vouchers and that's bad and we don't want to siphon off money from our public schools to private schools. But what really surprised me was the attack on our higher education even. So on the Appropriations Committee, we had public university presidents and chancellors come and ask us to reinstate their institutional enhancement funding because $400 million dollars had been taken out of the budget because of too much DEI.
00:17:54
Speaker
And this whole thing over DEI is just crazy. We are a diverse state. You just can't get past the fact that we are a diverse state and we should do things that support that diversity because it is our strength in the end. But instead, Dan Patrick, Governor Abbott are trying to tear down our institutions of higher education. And that's so unfortunate because we've seen around the globe, the countries that are the most prosperous, the most successful, have the most educated population. So number one is education. And and everywhere I go, I ask people, how are their schools doing? And there's a lot of stories of we had to cut teacher positions. We have larger class sizes. We're having to close schools.
00:18:38
Speaker
Some school districts even went to four days a week. It's just every school district is trying to figure out how to cut and cut and cut until there's really not anything left to cut.
00:18:49
Speaker
And it's it's hurting our school children. And I think that's evident to everybody. But also, you health care, health care. And as I travel the state, I hear a lot of very interesting stories on health care. And I think always listen to what the people that you're speaking to are telling you.
00:19:07
Speaker
When I went to South Texas, there were people, in fact, a congressional candidate, Bobby Pulido, he's a famous musician who is now running for Congress. And he has shared this story. So I will share it too, that he is not, he doesn't have health insurance.
00:19:22
Speaker
He just pays for things out of pocket and he goes to Mexico for his health care because it's so much less expensive. And he trusts the doctors down there. a lot a lot of people in South Texas said, oh, yeah, I do that, too.
00:19:36
Speaker
So that's how crazy our system is in Texas. that That should embarrass all of us. Yeah, absolutely. We have to go to Mexico so I can afford health care. So, you know, education, health care, but housing affordability and water are the two other planks. And ah whenever I bring these things up, people will nod their head and be like, yes, I know my kid or if it's a young person themselves feeling like I don't know if I'll ever be able to buy a house on my salary. So. We haven't increased the minimum wage. We're still at seven and a quarter here in Texas for our minimum wage. We should at least bring it up to $15 an hour. That's something that Democrats have tried over and over and just can't get accomplished with the Republican leadership we have. You know, Medicaid expansion, which would bring federal dollars to Texas to help people get preventive care so that they don't have to end up in the emergency room. Such a good economic decision.
00:20:32
Speaker
And yet we have not. had the Republicans get past the fact that this is Obamacare. You know, it's like every state has expanded.
00:20:43
Speaker
Not every state. there's But there's only a few of us left that just never did say, we want to help all the people get the health care that they need. So we started the conversation with messaging. And i think every issue you've you've laid out is obviously a good one and a winning issue that if people just knew about it, I think they would agree with us.
00:21:03
Speaker
The problem is, like you said, it's so hard to punch through that Fox fog. One of the things that I think was really effective in new York City with Mamdani's campaign is whether you liked him or not, everyone knew he had four issues and make it all spout off what they were.
00:21:21
Speaker
um Is there a similar way that we need to kind of distill all of those wonderful things you just mentioned into four phrases? this issue, that issue, this issue, and that issue. That's what I'm talking about.
00:21:34
Speaker
Right. Well, I think so. And I think that when you hear James Tallarico, who's running for U.S. Senate speak, he speaks on these issues, you know, supporting public schools, making sure people can get the health care they need, affordability, and water.
00:21:51
Speaker
So Gina Hinojosa, you know, i'm not sure James talks about water as much as I do. I'd have to talk to him, but Gina Hinojosa also, I think the top two, education and healthcare, care the three of us are all talking about, because these are just really foundational issues that if you take care of education, if you take care of healthcare, care then, you know, and housing. Yeah.
00:22:16
Speaker
And housing. Yeah. Yeah. Property taxes. Yeah. Like the idea of being able to buy even your first house, that starter home is such a huge way for you to like get on that first rung of wealth building in the American dream. And it seems so out of reach. Like I just, I bought it at a good time and I happen to have a good salary at my my legal job.
00:22:38
Speaker
But for my friends, it is almost impossible for them to think about being able to afford their first home. Well, I reflect on the fact that Momdani was really good. I think we've all coalesced around affordability ah across all the Democrats across the nation. And yet it's more particularized to our area, right? Momdani is talking about bus costs. Like if we talked about buses and the state of Texas, like even though we need we need public i feel like you know transport, but that's not really our thing. Especially statewide. Yeah, especially statewide, unless you're taking like the bond, like you know, there's all sorts of like intercity buses. But um but we, you know, maybe we're talking in terms of that affordability of the costs of health care. Everyone knows someone who has GoFundMe, right, for some catastrophic illness. And that should not be the case in the great, greatest country in the greatest state in the country. and also in terms of
00:23:33
Speaker
ah property taxes and how those property taxes should be going to our local schools. And I can just tell you anecdotally here in my city of Capel in North Texas, i I swear one morning i was going to my daycare. or I went to a doctor and I went to get coffee.
00:23:49
Speaker
And the night before we had a school board meeting about school closures and they defeated the vote to close a school here that was central, like literally called town center.
00:23:59
Speaker
And everybody like to a place was talking about this thing. And I worry a lot about the breaking through because we got the Epstein files. We've got the East wing of the White House and all these people are talking about these things. And yet I take comfort in the fact that I do know people are talking about these localized issues and how we maybe need to be talking about them more as Democrats as far as like what is affecting our communities.
00:24:29
Speaker
here's Here's a pitch for ah a bumper sticker. You didn't need a GoFundMe page or a trip to Mexico to afford to see a doctor. Yes.
00:24:40
Speaker
Yeah. We might have to get it a little smaller for the bumper sticker. Yeah. yeah But general idea. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, in such a prosperous state, everyone should have the health care they need.
00:24:53
Speaker
You know, we've got to figure it out. Well, can I go back to 2018? Because I think we talk a lot about that in other episodes and with other candidates and electeds, because it is the year that we got so close.
Reflecting on the 2018 Blue Wave and Outreach Efforts
00:25:07
Speaker
And so are you thinking about that? Like what went right during 2018? Because I think of it in terms of, yes, there was a blue wave as a result of what was going on in the White House with the Trump midterm.
00:25:18
Speaker
But also there was a lot of new organizing. There was a lot of new people getting up and saying, like, I want to get involved. I want to start donating. I think you talked to some of the biggest donors in the state and they're like, yeah I didn't do anything until Trump was elected and now I'm here.
00:25:31
Speaker
So how do you reflect on that with this race? Yeah, I'm seeing very similar things. So when Trump got elected first in 2016, we saw a lot of the indivisible groups spring up and they put together a notebook of how to run for office. And that's really important, too. When we have more Democratic candidates running for state House, for state Senate, for Democratic down to lower level offices, county commissioner's court and things like that, the message gets out to more people because you have more candidates. So I think that's one of the great things that Indivisible did. In 2026, I'm seeing very similar things. Like it had gone a little bit dormant, particularly in central Texas. I didn't see as much work with Indivisible groups until Trump got reelected.
00:26:19
Speaker
And then once again, you know we see the No Kings rallies. I've gone to those and talked to people there A lot of times, I would say just a small percent of the people who attend those are people who also go to Democratic clubs. So there's a huge group who they are pushing back against Trump and the fascism of Trump's administration, but they don't necessarily come to club meetings. So for me, it's great that Indivisible is there bringing them together for these rallies, these protests, where candidates like myself can go and shake their hand and tell them who we are, and hopefully get them more engaged and then get them to tell their friends. I believe that the way we're successful is through relationship building.
00:27:04
Speaker
And that's one of the things one of the organizations, Texas Blue Action Democrats, works on. We're going to turn people out to vote when we ask our friends to vote. And when we tell our friends, hey, here's the candidate I met.
00:27:16
Speaker
I trust them. You should vote for this candidate, too. That's very helpful because a lot of times people don't go vote because they don't have the time to do the research themselves. So if they have a trusted friend who reaches out and says, it's time to vote, here's my recommendations.
00:27:31
Speaker
that may be the key to getting that individual to vote. Yeah, and and in 2018, obviously, Beto was able to be kind of omnipresent. and So many people could actually be that trusted person. said i I saw him speak. He came to my county, right?
00:27:45
Speaker
He got to have that that special moment at the convention where he said, where are you from? He's like, I've been there, you know? um And I'm going circle back to something that you said earlier. is like, where has Mike Collier been? Sorry, i don't I don't want to let this go. um Beto is someone, you don't have to have ask the question, where has he been? He's been right there the whole time. Every time he's lost, he's picked himself back up. he He'll grow a sad beard. He'll shave the beard and he'll put his work boots back on and he gets back up off the mat. And I haven't seen that from Mike Collier.
00:28:15
Speaker
And there are a number of candidates who, you know, I can understand being sad after a race doesn't go your way. But I see a difference between candidates who get back in the fight those who kind of withdraw, ah guess. Yeah.
00:28:31
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I mean, it is very disappointing. And but what Beto has done with Powered by the People is just incredible. You know, he is so beloved to this day. um And I appreciate him so much because when we did our quorum break, he was there to help out. And, you know, he then got Paxton filing a lawsuit against him. I had Paxton file a lawsuit against me, too. So I know how that feels. But, you know, i think he had to spend a lot of money in that case.
00:29:03
Speaker
So, yeah, he he is very dedicated and I appreciate the work he continues to do. And he talks about how it's relationship building, too. Yes, you have to get people registered to vote, but we need to follow up with that person after they register and say, remind them to vote at election time.
00:29:20
Speaker
Speaking of Ken Paxton. and Dan Patrick presided over the ah trial of Ken Paxton in the Senate.
00:29:31
Speaker
right Because as the lieutenant governor, he has this role where he's in charge of the Senate. He sets the votes, all that. But he also presided over this very special, hadn't seen this thing and in decades, this this trial after a bipartisan vote of the House of Representatives. um you know He's very set in his ways and he what he says goes. But I seem to remember it was a $3 million dollars check that the Paxton campaign made over to him.
00:30:00
Speaker
or Or friends of Ken Paxton. I forget the exact details on this, but can you can you tell the the listeners what happened there? Yeah, well, $3 million dollars flowed from Ken Paxton to Dan Patrick just before the vote.
00:30:14
Speaker
when Dan Patrick was the head judge in the impeachment trial in the Senate. And there were a lot of phone calls made, even on the House floor, when we were hearing the impeachment case against Paxton. There were a lot of phone calls telling members which way to vote, not to me or probably not to most of the Democrats, but to the Republicans, trying to get them to vote against impeachment. But there were some of them, some who surprised me, to be honest. One of my desk, uh,
00:30:42
Speaker
desk mates, was at that time Ellen Troxclair, Republican who I totally thought she would vote against impeachment, but she voted for it. And I asked her why, and she said, because it's the right thing. He is guilty.
00:30:55
Speaker
And he it was clear. The evidence was laid out before us. Well, it goes to the Senate, and this money gets involved, $3 million, dollars and he gets acquitted. And I just, you know, you can't help but think those $3 million dollars had a big impact on the acquittal.
00:31:11
Speaker
Oh, no. I mean, what I don't think people realize in Texas. I didn't realize it until I was a candidate, which is that you there are no real campaign limits. I mean, you have a limit here in the city of Dallas, you know, to our city council members. It's like a thousand dollars.
00:31:23
Speaker
You got limits for the federal campaigns and there really are no limits in the state of Texas. So you could have someone write you a million dollar check and then you don't have to put in that work. um But I'm curious, like, how are you, I mean, would we could wax on all day long about that trial and how bad Cam Baxton is and and Dan Patrick for that matter, but, you know, you gotta, we have to win and we have to flip. And one from what I'm hearing is, speaking of fundraising, like we don't really have a money problem, I think I've heard in Texas. Like we we are able to fundraise. We have people that are able to ah give money. So I'm wondering how are you approaching fundraising here in the state of Texas?
00:32:00
Speaker
You know, it's a process because as a candidate, you have to convince people that you are in a race that's winnable before they're really ready to give money in a significant way. So oftentimes for a candidate like myself, it's small dollars to begin with until you get just enough numbers. And you can say to the larger dollar donors, hey, I've got a thousand donors. I've got 3000 donors. I've got 5000, you know. until you reach that level where they're like, oh okay, maybe this is a winnable race. you know The first time I ran, there was a lot of skepticism and so many times, particularly women would say, are you supported by Annie's List? Are you endorsed by Annie's List? It was like the the rite of passage. If you are endorsed by Annie's List, then they will send you dollars. And so I'm kind of going through the same process again of who's backing you, who's supporting you, how many people are donating, You know, what what's the excitement factor around Vicki Goodwin?
00:32:56
Speaker
And, you know, still chipping away. so frustrating, right? Like, you know, I've heard, and it's my own frustration that feels like people measure a candidate by their ability to fundraise and not by their ability to be a good person in that spot or even effective in their job. But I get it. Like, I know fundraising is such a big aspect, but it shouldn't be the only aspect. And sometimes it is like that chicken and the egg issue, which is something has to go first and you got to convince people to ah donate to you. But like, you're the only one on the ticket. So, you know, we got to like you and we're excited about you. That's why we have you on. I mean, so ah I'm going to donate. I've been sharing all of your your social media and I'm excited for you. so so So I guess my observation then is just to before you lose the thread on on the Paxson trial is that
00:33:47
Speaker
I think there is a conventional wisdom that Paxton is a uniquely terrible candidate this cycle. And I think that's why ah Colin Allred at the beginning and now you and now that James Tallarico has entered the race, um James Tallarico set the fundraising record for a single quarter with like three weeks.
00:34:08
Speaker
Right? He raised like $6 million. Right?
00:34:12
Speaker
My argument to Texas Democrats, Texas Democratic donors is, look, if you think Ken Paxton is is beatable, you should have the same belief about Dan Patrick, because the only reason why Ken Paxton wasn't impeached is because Dan Patrick protected him.
00:34:30
Speaker
And so any so any Paxton stank should therefore also apply to Dan Patrick. That's my pitch. Yes. Yeah. And his approval rating is at an all time low of 30%. I mean, that's 30%. And I talked to some people and they're like, well, why I can't believe it's even that high. So he's really made a lot of people angry. 30%? 30%. Yeah. So like Donald Trump right now, and there aren't emails from Jeffrey Epstein about Dan Patrick. Yeah.
00:35:04
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, again, he's ruled the Senate in such a way that he's even upset a lot of Republicans. Now, they're not going to say that out loud. They're not going to send me dollars. But I could see that there are Republicans throughout the state who are ready for a change.
00:35:20
Speaker
Well, let's talk about that then as ah as a campaign strategy. Is there a permission structure? Are there certain key endorsements you could obtain that would allow the kind of disaffected Republican voter to say, God, I, you know, I'm not a Democrat, but I'm going to vote for one.
00:35:36
Speaker
Yeah, it might be some former elected officials who are Republicans who, if I get their endorsement, that that would help. push some Republicans who are feeling like, gosh, the party has left me behind. This is not the same Republican party of a decade or two ago. And, you know, the only thing is so many Republicans don't follow politics and Democrats too. It's not just a Republican thing. There are a lot of people out there that don't follow politics and all the nuance that goes into it. And so we have to make sure that they do understand there just for an example,
00:36:12
Speaker
When we had the July 4th floods, there was a lot of conversations about the emergency warning system, the early warning system. Well, one of the committees I've been on heard a bill that would have allowed more money to go to counties to help with their emergency preparedness, the communication systems.
00:36:30
Speaker
For example, on your cell phone bill every month, there's a little fee that goes to 911. We tried to increase that by just 25 cents. So 25 cents on your monthly bill for your cell phone would have gone to improving 911 emergency services. Who would it be against that? We got it passed and went to the governor. He vetoed it, which is crazy. Now, I can't really use that so much against the lieutenant governor, But the lieutenant governor has been known to do similar things and not to priorities on county needs and city needs. And then one of the reasons that our local governments are having to raise property taxes, which is a little known fact, is because the state has shirked its duties to build roads, to provide the health care that's needed, to provide the school funding. And then your cities are like, oh, we got to step in and help in whatever way we can.
00:37:25
Speaker
And so when the state shirks its responsibility, that then falls to your local jurisdictions that raise their property taxes and then everyone's screaming about the property taxes.
00:37:36
Speaker
Yes, I know. Well, and it's no longer a party of small government. It doesn't feel like it's not supporting their small government. in fact, they're taking some of the powers away. And sometimes I wonder if we need to be talking more about that as Democrats. that This is no longer that kind of party, the party of freedom and small government. And in fact, you know, the things that we're supporting are the things that seem to be supporting ah the local governments and also the freedom to, you know, reproductive rights, marriage, things like that.
00:38:05
Speaker
How do you react to that? Yeah. I mean, I think people have this perception of the Republican party that actually isn't true. um You know, the freedom and liberty, well, freedom, if it's the freedom that I think is okay, or liberty is, you know, um it's really unfortunate. The choice issue, why why can't women make their own decisions about their own health care? Because honestly, this is harming women who want to have babies. We saw with the documentary Zoroski v. Texas, the 20 women that sued the state of Texas because they had pregnancy complications.
00:38:45
Speaker
So how is it freedom when we don't allow them to take care of their own health, to be able to have good OB-GYN doctors. You know, we're losing, this state is losing OB-GYN doctors because of our complete abortion ban.
00:38:59
Speaker
And so where's the freedom there? I know technically you have a primary to get through, but let's zoom ahead because this and this podcast is mostly interested about flipping the state, not any one race, not any one cycle, but building the infrastructure we need for when we have the census happen and we get all these new seats and and all this additional power as a state.
00:39:18
Speaker
um Let's talk about what are the messages that we can use to grow the tent, um not just for this race, but in general, but as as an academic exercise, um you or one of your volunteers knocks on the door of a traditional Republican who, like you said, really shouldn't have a place in the way the modern party has has developed, has evolved. um What is the pitch to say, look,
00:39:50
Speaker
I know that you've never really considered yourself a Democrat before, but you should you should come in and vote on our ticket. Yeah, I think it starts with asking, what are the issue what's your biggest issue? What are you most concerned about? And understanding you know where they are coming from so that we can say, well, this is how we want to address it as Democrats. This is what the Democratic Party is working on. if it's you know We've talked a lot about education and health care. And a lot of people will bring that up.
00:40:20
Speaker
Oftentimes people won't have an issue. But let's just say they threw out something like the environment. Then we can say, well, Democrats have been supporting renewable energy. Democrats want to make sure that when these data centers come in, there's some regulation around it because they're going to be taking a lot of energy and water.
00:40:39
Speaker
So I think it's always important to ask the person at the door what their main issue and concern is and and saying, here's how I would address that if I were your representative or your lieutenant governor.
00:40:53
Speaker
ah You know, we have to start by listening. All day long, I'm going to, if if they say, I'm not really sure, i don't have an issue, then I'm going to start off on mine of, well, our public schools are in dire need of more funding.
00:41:08
Speaker
And right now, our state leaders are taking funding away, sending it to private schools. They want to privatize. And that's not really going to help the students. And so I'm always going to lead with my four, education, health care, housing affordability and water, but I do wanna listen to what is on the minds of the people I'm speaking to.
00:41:29
Speaker
Cause maybe they've got an issue that's, you know, the pothole at the end of my street or, um you know. That works at the door because you can talk to the individual, but let's say you have to you have to cut an ad.
00:41:41
Speaker
What do you think is gonna be the the thing that traditional, people who have traditionally considered themselves Republicans, what what do you think it is that might be holding them back that they need to hear?
00:41:52
Speaker
Well, that we are interested in having a successful, prosperous society, that we care about individuals and businesses, but that we think it should be a level playing field so that large corporations don't have an advantage over small mom-and-pop businesses, that we want to have a good education for all kids, but privatizing it and sending some kids to private school on the public dime isn't going to help the vast majority of kids who need to be educated.
00:42:22
Speaker
We all want the same thing. We want a great education for our kids, good healthcare, care housing and water. So speaking of door knocking and messaging, um, and also the statewide messaging, I heard a lot when I was knocking doors about that very issue. Like people would say, well I don't know, California people are, if we have like Democrats, we're going to be like California and businesses are leaving California. And it just feels like sometimes we need to be like myth busters in our party.
00:42:50
Speaker
yeah And yes, I think of the ghostbusters theme song when i say that, uh, I think maybe that's our new jingle.
Debunking Myths and Promoting Democratic Values
00:42:56
Speaker
Like we need to do that. Like we have to bust the myth that Democrats are bad for business, especially here in the state of Texas. So how do we thread that needle? Because I think it's just ingrained in people's minds that we are bad for business when we're not. We're actually better for them. And we see what's going on in California. And it's not necessarily the case that businesses are coming here because they don't like the environment there. it might be because they enjoy our income tax or lack thereof in the state of Texas. So
00:43:23
Speaker
How do we break through with that? How do we do the myth busting as with Ghostbusters? you know We're just out there hosing them down. Yeah. Well, i I mean, I think what was very helpful the first time I ran was saying that I'm a small business owner. So I understand having to meet a budget. I understand having payroll and employees and being smart with money.
00:43:45
Speaker
As a business owner, you're constantly thinking about spending money wisely. And I think the vast majority of people, when they pay their taxes, they won't mind paying them as much if they feel like it's being spent well.
00:43:58
Speaker
And Democrats are always focused on how can we do the most good for the most people? And that includes using our resources smartly. Right now, you know, i feel like we have been, the governor has had the ability through executive orders and emergency declarations, he's had the ability to do contracts without bids, so no bid contracts.
00:44:23
Speaker
And who knows if we could have gotten things done for less money, but the governor was able to bypass the bid process.
00:44:34
Speaker
And so, um Democrats are definitely just as concerned about spending our money wisely because we know we have limited resources and we want to do the most good with it. So I had a question to go back to what you mentioned earlier about infrastructure and like the needs that you heard from other statewide candidates and like giving resources to local counties or like if you were to give like a top list of things that we need infrastructure wise, like what is that? Like how do we flip this state?
00:45:01
Speaker
And i'm I'm always interested in process. Alex knows that. So I'm interested in that because I can imagine for me when I was running and for you and your state house race, I was knocking on all the doors. Like I was out there, i had a team of people were knocking, but as a statewide candidate, you you got to coordinate, right? Like you got to, like, you can't be the one out there knocking on, you know, 31 million doors.
00:45:22
Speaker
ah And my sub question to that is, you know Is there some sort of group thread amongst the statewide candidates? Because a lot of them are your colleagues, right? Like Gina Inosa, James Tallarico, John Rosenthal. like They're all state reps. And I think that's so cool. Y'all are all running on this statewide. So you know what is that infrastructure process? And what are you, I imagine, doing amongst the candidates?
00:45:48
Speaker
Yeah, well, I am very excited that we have Kendall Scudder heading up the state party now because I think he has committed just like I am and others are to bring all the candidates together after the primary.
00:46:02
Speaker
Right now, we're all kind of working separately because um James Tallarico, for example, has Colin Allred that he's in a primary with. Gina has others in her primary. So their their focus is very much on their campaign as it should be right now. But the day after the primary is over and we know who the Democratic nominees are, we all need to get together and say, here's how we're going to work together and with down ballot candidates. When in 2018 Beto, we come out to our area and hold an an event, I would go because that was such a great opportunity for me to meet people too. And we need to come together as candidates and really share resources, share knowledge, share data,
00:46:43
Speaker
so that we can all be more successful. When we're all in our own silos, it's not very helpful. And so I'm committed to making sure that we do come together as Democrats, as a slate, to to work as hard and efficiently together as we can. yeah I'm just imagining this like group thread amongst all the candidates statewide. you know James is texting about his stop in Sherman, and you're talking about where you were recently in North Dallas. you know like That's my like dream.
00:47:12
Speaker
So I'm like, magical group thread about out there. Um, cause I think that, um, would be great amongst all the candidates. Um, but I mean, you were to say like, I'm imagining cause you've done a lot of work across the state, are you seeing a place of need? Like if you were like, have the listeners out there and they're saying, i I don't know what to do. Like, I don't know how to help. Like where are the places that you see that are of need, maybe geographically or like Because we've heard a lot about precinct chairs. We've heard a lot about county chairs. We need a lot of those where we don't have them. But are you seeing ah a lot of that or or there are there other needs that you're seeing?
00:47:46
Speaker
Well, I think there are some needs ah of training. Like how do you effectively knock on people's doors? How do you? And I'll give an example. Last cycle, I said I was helping some of the statehouse candidates. There was one that I went to and her area is more rural, more Republican,
00:48:03
Speaker
And the data is not great. So a lot of turnover. and What we noticed as we started knocking on doors is that a lot of times it was somebody new at that door. And so we didn't have any data to know what their position was, but had some really great conversations with people. I had the best conversation with this woman just to find out she had just moved and hadn't registered to vote yet.
00:48:25
Speaker
And we were past the deadline for that election cycle. mean But at the same time, it was like, well, let's save that data. Let's make sure we come back to her next cycle.
00:48:36
Speaker
But the person I was walking with hadn't ever had anyone train them in how to how to save the data back into minivans. So that's really important that we provide that training to our precinct chairs, to our volunteers.
00:48:52
Speaker
And when I first got there, she didn't know her campaign manager hadn't cut the turf correctly. And so there's there's a lot that goes into block walking. It's not just showing up and going to doors. it's having the data provided so you know which doors to go to and how to have a good conversation, how to record the data so that it's useful to us going forward.
00:49:13
Speaker
Yeah, cut the turf. I mean, that was a phrase I'd never heard of prior to being a candidate. I'm like, cut turf. Like, what are you talking about? I don't know what that is ah but it's so important. And I hear that because I think the emphasis this round is really in fields. I mean, it is a lot of that in training and getting boots on the ground. We're both military people, so I like a good military analogy um and getting getting people out there.
00:49:39
Speaker
um But I guess in our last few minutes together, i mean, if you had any other advice for people at home about what they could do to help the state, you know, and I cause i hear it all the time, Kate, I don't know what's the plan.
00:49:52
Speaker
How can I help the plan? What can I do? Like, what would you suggest somebody at home can do like right now?
Engagement and Support for Democratic Efforts
00:50:00
Speaker
So I would say do some research and find out who your precinct chair is and then offer to help your precinct chair.
00:50:09
Speaker
whether it is to take a street and knock on those doors at various times, or whether it is to plan a party. So I often tell people what brings people together is something fun. Have a wine and cheese party, have a barbecue, you know, do something to bring people together, get some candidates to join.
00:50:31
Speaker
That way people can meet the candidate face to face and ask for small donations. When someone has put a little bit of money into a race, then they feel committed. I donated to that candidate. Now I have to go vote for that candidate.
00:50:45
Speaker
So getting in the game is really important. If they can't do a lot, everybody can do a few bucks. Right. And so just getting people connected, but an individual person, I just say, find out who your precinct chair is and ask that precinct chair how you can help. And if there is no precinct chair, well, there you go. you can become one. That's right.
00:51:06
Speaker
Um, I'll, I'll just leave, leave it with this. I'll ask you one last question. And then, ah I want to know what's going on in your life outside of this race, outside of politics, and how people can stay in touch with you. but My last question is, how do we ensure to the greatest degree possible that all of the financial resources and and all the time we spend on this cycle is um it's building?
00:51:35
Speaker
the party and not just being spent. And now we're not lighting money on fire. Like and there's this common conception is that you some of these consultants, they get paid by how many ads get cut.
00:51:49
Speaker
And of course, ads are important. I'm not saying they're not, but an ad once it's played on the TV is gone. And it doesn't build the data file. it doesn't build the party, right?
00:52:02
Speaker
It just affects that one race. So what are some things we can be doing, um what your race can be doing with the other statewide candidates, the congressional candidates and below and and all that? What can we all be doing so that we are building towards, again, this kind of classictic cataclysmic event that's going happen in 2030 whenever we get these new seats? Yeah.
00:52:24
Speaker
Well, ask the candidates what they're doing. you know Make them accountable to, yes, you're running now because you have passion and you want to make a difference in the world, but not every candidate is going to win. What are you going to do after the election? you know If there's a primary and there's some candidates aren't going to make it past the primary, are they committed to helping the other candidate?
00:52:45
Speaker
Are they help ah committed to helping the party build? So just I think making candidates accountable is number one. We shouldn't end at election day. If we lose, we still have valuable data that we can provide to the next candidate or we can run again. So many of the candidates that are running this time have run previously, which is great because they've built some name recognition. They've got their data from last time. They can build upon that.
00:53:15
Speaker
Others don't. And you know the first time I ran, there were five of us in the primary, four other people. They ultimately all did get behind me and have been supportive ever since. And that's that's a true candidate, someone that says, you know I'm more interested in a Democrat winning.
00:53:32
Speaker
And if I'm not that one, I'm going to help the other one. So sometimes that's hard. And sometimes it looks different in different races. But if If I...
00:53:46
Speaker
am able to share some data that I have to help another candidate that's a Democrat, we're we're helping one another. You know, we're investing in building a better party. Well, it sounds like we got the tools and then we got the ideas to flip Texas and having great candidates like yourself is is part of that. So we're very grateful for you. So before we end, as Alex alluded to, what how can we support you? How can we follow you? And what you got going on outside of politics? Like I know we're all people. We got things going on.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Well, so to start with goodwinfortexas.com is my website. At the bottom of the website is a link to all of my social media pages. So I have this little acronym, FLOX, and that is to follow, like, often comment and share because when you do that, that helps elevate our messages. So social media is really critical, I think, in these campaigns and it's ah it's an inexpensive way to get our message out. So just remember flux. And then ah on the personal side, so my son got married in June and they are around a baby in March. That's so great. Oh my gosh. Primary than baby. I love it. um
00:55:03
Speaker
Well, I just pulled up the website. The slogan is a good win for Texas. Yes. That's right. I love it. that fa forget it Married the perfect person for a candidate. yeah You have a name.
00:55:19
Speaker
You have the name a name. good one for Texas. Okay. Well, thank you, Vicki. Appreciate you. And I'll say God bless Texas. Thank you, Kate and Alex. You can follow us on all socials at Mission Texas Podcast.
00:55:33
Speaker
Email us at missiontexaspodcast at gmail.com. This episode is edited by Juan Jose Flores. Our music bumper is by Adam Pickerel, and our cover art is by Tino Sohn.