Goodwin Builds a Bipartisan Bridge Into a Republican Senate: Two Former GOP Senators Join Her Transition Team as Patrick Urges Rule Changes
Lt. Governor-elect Vikki Goodwin stood at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday with a transition team built to cross the aisle — including former Republican state senators Tommy Williams and Kel Seliger, chaired by Grand Prairie's Rep. Chris Turner. She takes office January 19 as President of a Senate that stays Republican — where outgoing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is urging his party to change the rules before she arrives.
AUSTIN — Democratic Lt. Governor-elect Vikki Goodwin appeared with her bipartisan transition leadership team at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday, and the guest list was the message: two former Republican state senators, Tommy Williams from the Houston suburbs and Kel Seliger from Amarillo, stand on the team of the Democrat who will preside over a Republican-majority Senate. "I am so honored to be the first woman Lt. Governor-elect of the State of Texas," Goodwin said.
The team's chairman is a Metroplex name: outgoing Democratic state Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie. "She is a leader who cares deeply about Texas and knows that to get results for the people, lawmakers must work together to find common ground. Texans expect and deserve nothing less," Turner said. Goodwin, for her part, promised a different style from her predecessor: "It's not going to be one person's agenda. It's going to be formed by all of the senators." Her stated top priorities are boosting public education funding and healthcare coverage, and on THC she favors regulation over the full ban Patrick pursued last year.
The counter-move is already public. Outgoing Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told conservative radio host Mark Davis this week that Senate Republicans should change the rules: "Vikki Goodwin won, but she doesn't have the majority of votes on the floor," Patrick said. "So, I believe, and I support the Republicans standing up for their voters." There is no word yet on what rule changes Senate Republicans will try — and the stakes are structural, because the Texas lieutenant governor is among the most powerful legislators in the country, writing the budget, picking committee chairs and deciding which bills reach the Senate floor.
The House is staging the same drama in mirror image: presumptive next Speaker Senfronia Thompson announced a transition team including three former Republican Speakers — Joe Straus, Dennis Bonnen and Dade Phelan. Members of the House vote for Speaker on the first day of the session, Tuesday, January 12; if Thompson is formally elected, the top elected leaders at the Texas Capitol — Thompson, Goodwin and Gov. Gina Hinojosa — would all be women for the first time. Goodwin takes office January 19; the rules fight, if it comes, comes first.
