Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is headed to a third term, after once again defeating Mike Collier in the general election.
Patrick was first elected to the position in 2014 after serving in the Texas Senate. This matchup wasn’t the first between Patrick and Collier, as he previously defeated Collier in 2018.
With the legislative session beginning in January, Patrick’s return signals a coming conflict with the Texas House.
At the Republican Party of Texas Convention earlier this year, Patrick went on offense against the Texas House during his speech at the Republican Party of Texas Convention in Houston for their failure to pass conservative priorities. The lieutenant governor also pledged to get the job done.
“I’m not pointing fingers; I’m just telling you the truth” said Patrick, before saying he would pass a bill to restore the felony penalties for illegal voting. Last year, the Texas House lowered the penalty to a misdemeanor. When the Senate passed legislation to fix the change, Speaker Dade Phelan refused to bring up the bill, saying he did not want to “relitigate” the issue.
“We are going to keep sending them the bill until they pass it,” Patrick promised.
In addition to the election bill fix, Patrick pledged that the Senate would once again pass legislation to ban gender modification procedures in minors as well as a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying.
Both of the pieces of Republican priority legislation were killed in the Texas House last year.
With another election win under his belt, Patrick appears poised to go to war when the Legislature reconvenes on January 10, 2023.
