Who wants to be "number two"? LBJ was famously warned that the job of vice president’s not worth a warm bucket of spit. (Or something like that.)
But it’s a different thing being "number two" in Texas. Indeed the Lieutenant Governor in Texas wields enormous power in steering legislative policymaking. Right now four prominent Republicans are duking it out for the party’s nomination, including incumbent David Dewhurst, State Sen. Dan Patrick, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, and – in the first of our conversations with the candidates in the major statewide races – Jerry Patterson, who’s hoping to trade his current job as Land Commissioner for a new role as Lt. Governor.
In an extended conversation co-hosted by KUT senior political correspondent Ben Philpott and Texas Standard host David Brown, Patterson talks about why he's running, what informs his political views, how Texas can (and can't) address issues of immigration and border security, why he distrusts the federal government, gun rights, what he characterizes as an appeal to the 'lowest common denominator' in the current campaign, and 'the three top issues facing Texas' right now.
We have invited all of the top candidates in the major statewide races to come in for a get-to-know-you session, and we’ll be rolling those out on the air and here online in the coming days and weeks – so check back often.
Early voting in the primaries is already underway. (But you knew that, right? Right?)
