Texas GOP loser wants Democrat who beat him stripped of power

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is not taking his defeat lightly. Speaking to a conservative radio host on Monday, the Texas official said Republican lawmakers ought to strip the Democrat who beat him of her power as state Senate president before she is even in office.

Patrick was defeated by Democratic Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin in last week’s midterms and is now bent on reducing the office he has occupied since 2015 to a shadow of what it was. The lieutenant governor of Texas has more authority than their counterparts in other states, per The Washington Post. The lieutenant governor in Texas oversees the budget, makes committee and chair appointments, and works with the governor to set the legislative agenda. In his 11 years in the job, Patrick has done all of that.

When they return to session in January, Texas GOP state senators will have a simple majority to hand over Goodwin’s power to a Republican majority leader. “I support the Republicans standing up for their voters,” Patrick told Mark Davis on the radio. “I think the Senate should do that” in regard to moving the powers of the office to the majority leader. He added that had he won, as he thought he would, “I was going to begin to change those rules.” He says such steps are needed to “protect the conservative majority.”

Goodwin beat Patrick by six points in a Democratic sweep of the Texas ballot. The blue wave was historic, and every statewide seat in Texas went to the Democrats. Democrats took the state House, and Gina Hinojosa unseated Greg Abbott for the governorship, though the GOP still has its Senate majority. On MS NOW last week, Goodwin warned that Republicans would be stripping her of authority “at their peril because we will have elections again in 2028.”

In an effort at cooperation, Goodwin has been in touch with Republican state senators. A statement from her transition team said she “believes that Texas is best served by a deliberative, collaborative body.”

Since he took office in 2015, Patrick has gathered enough power to be one of the most consequential lieutenant governors in the land. A Trump loyalist, the president praised him in a Truth Social post during a redistricting row last year as an “incredible friend.” Patrick also oversaw the acquittal of Attorney General Ken Paxton following the latter’s 2023 impeachment by the Texas House and has been a defender of GOP causes like the school voucher program.