Marijuana, education, gambling, Medicaid; Lt. Gov-elect Vikki Goodwin talks bills and challenges ahead of 2027 session

The first Democrat to preside over the Texas Senate in 26 years will need to find a way to surf the blue wave that brought her there, while contending with the remaining red seawall in that chamber.

When Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin (D) is sworn in on Jan. 19, a week after the 2027 legislative session begins, she will be the first Democrat to hold the position since Bob Bullock handed over the gavel in January 1999.

But unlike the governor’s mansion and the Texas House, where Democrats have control, Goodwin will have to contend with a Republican majority in the Senate, which may be considering restricting some of the position’s power.

So as Goodwin prepares to tackle priorities like healthcare, THC regulation, or repealing school vouchers, “balance” is going to come into play.

“I think everyone’s a realist, but we want to focus on those things that the voters told us are important,” Goodwin told KSAT during a wide-ranging, one-on-one interview covering her stances on everything from marijuana legalization to the state’s role in immigration enforcement.

Watch the full interview below or scan through her responses on big issues facing the legislature and her new role.

Goodwin announced a bipartisan transition team at her first press conference Tuesday, during which she said her focus was sitting down with each state senator.

“My goal is to continue the conversations with the senators to understand what their goals are in their districts, what the district needs are, to understand what they hope to accomplish in the next session, and just build relationships. I think getting things done in the legislature is all about the relationships. I’ve worked with many of the senators, but having been in the House, there’s not as much connection between the representatives and the senators. So there’s still some relationship building to be done.”

Being first female lieutenant governor & part of first female ‘Big-Three’ in Texas

“It’s really exciting. One of my inspirations was Governor Ann Richards. Barbara Jordan, she actually handed me my certificate when I graduated from the LBJ school. But also my mom. So I have looked up to women, and it’s really gratifying. I’ve had some young women in college come up to me and say that I’m an inspiration to them. So being the first woman lieutenant governor is just really amazing and an honor and very exciting. Working with Gina — as Governor Gina Hinojosa and Presumptive Speaker Senfronia Thompson is really exciting. We’ve worked together in the House, and I think we all share the similar goals of really making sure that we’re doing the best for Texas.”

Priorities

Bill filing for the 2027 legislative session began Monday, including proposals on Medicaid expansion, repealing the voucher program, marijuana legalization, and data centers. What are her priorities?

“Well, I mean, what you just mentioned, those are my priorities. As lieutenant governor, I won’t file my own bills, but I will be prioritizing the senators’ bills. We have reserved the first 30 bill numbers — so 1 through 30 — to make sure that we put in in place those priorities of supporting our public schools, repealing vouchers, regulating THC. I hope to work on some healthcare issues, such as expanding Medicaid. So all of those will be priority.”

School vouchers & public school funding

“Well, we definitely need to increase funding. We only increased the basic allotment by $55 in the last legislative session, and that’s not enough. We also could simplify the funding formula. In the last session, — I’m on appropriations — we made it more complicated, and it makes it difficult for our superintendents to really use those dollars the most effective way that they can. We have over 1,000 school districts. They’re all different. They need more flexibility with the dollars that they receive. And with simplifying it, I think that brings more transparency. Right now it’s really hard to understand where are those dollars going. So I would love to see a bill that simplifies our school funding formula.”

“I’m interested in repealing it,” Goodwin said in regard to the school voucher program. “I have said repeatedly that I don’t want to have any money in our budget going to private school vouchers. Some people have brought up programs that help kids with autism and things like that. So there should be conversations about how we help those children. We want to make sure every child in the state is getting the best education possible. But I know our state constitution says that we have to provide a public education and the vouchers help less than 1% of the kids. And so we need to make sure that we are fully supporting, fully funding our public school system.”

THC, hemp & marijuana

Goodwin has said she supports regulating THC instead of banning it, and early bills filed in the legislature have included calls for marijuana legalization, which Goodwin indicated support for in her campaign. KSAT asked if that would be a priority for her.

“Well, I think we’re going to have to have some conversations about that. My bottom line goal is to make sure that people can get safe products. We heard from a lot of veterans who use hemp and THC products for pain management. I think there’s a lot opportunity to use these products for a multitude of medical reasons, but we need to do more research on that. We had — I visited with a lot of the hemp businesses, and they all have different ideas about what’s the best way to go about it. Does Florida have the best plan? Does Oklahoma have the plan? So I think we still need to have a lot of conversations about exactly how we go about legalizing hemp, THC, marijuana, whatever.”

“I am open to it,” she said about being open to all three. “Because I think right now you — by having it illegal, you push people to the black market. Things that they’re getting may not be safe, may be laced with fentanyl. So again, safety is my primary concern.”

Medicaid expansion

“I will certainly push for Medicaid expansion. We see other states all around us that have expanded, that are bringing those federal dollars back to help the people in their state. Why wouldn’t we do that? We’ve had resistance from Republicans over the years, but we’ve also seen where hospitals have shut down because they don’t have the money necessary, and that has led to medical deserts. And so why wouldn’t they want to do something that would bring dollars to the people in their districts? But we’ll have to have some conversations about that. We know in the past we’ve done the 1115 waivers so that might be another option if we aren’t able to get Medicaid expansion. But I — my goal is to make sure that the five million Texans who currently don’t have health insurance have a way to get insurance, have a way to go see a primary care doctor, have a way to get preventive care. Because we know that when people end up in the emergency room, it’s more expensive. And that’s what I repeated on the campaign trail: let’s put more emphasis on preventive care, and it will be less expensive, and we’ll have better outcomes.”

“Again, I think we need to look at what problem are we trying to solve,” she said about whether there’s middle ground on the issue where they can make progress with Republicans. “And the problem is that we have 5 million Texans who don’t have health insurance. And that means that they push off getting care. If we expand Medicaid, we could get more people insured. We could bring those federal dollars back to help with their health care. And maybe talking to doctors would help. Maybe talking to the hospitals would help — bringing them in and seeing that there’s a new administration, maybe people will shift in their ideas of what’s possible.”

Unwinding Texas abortion laws

“Again, I think we have to focus on the problem that we’re trying to solve. For me, the problem is that Texas has more women who die in pregnancy and postpartum complications, and I don’t want that to continue. We can — this is a solvable problem. Let’s figure out why are women dying during pregnancy? Part of it is our total abortion ban, doctors not being able to give them the care that they need. So we need to figure out a way, not just the ‘Life of the Mother Act’ that didn’t solve the problem. But we need to figure out a way that we can save these women’s lives.”

“I believe that doctors need the ability, and women should have the right to make their own personal private health care decisions. So, my personal view is that is a woman’s right, and we need to allow our doctors to practice their full scope so that they can save lives. So, primarily saving lives, but also I do believe women should had the right make that decision.”

“I think it’s too early to say right now,” Goodwin said about whether there’s room for compromise with Republicans. ”I’ve just started having conversations with the Republican senators, so I don’t want to speculate on that.”

What she’s hearing from Republican senators

“In the conversations that I’ve had, they have been very cordial. I have said, ‘I want you to represent your district. I want to be able to do the best for Texas. How can we do that together?’ And I haven’t had any of them say that they intend to strip my powers in those personal conversations. And so I’m hopeful. I haven’t spoken to every single one of them yet, but I think there’s constitutional powers that they can’t take away from the lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor does preside over the Senate, and I know that for me, I want to make it the smoothest session possible, getting good things done for Texans. I want to make sure that we’re paying attention to what the voters told us in the last election. And so I remain hopeful that the senators will work with me.”

On whether Republicans will try to strip power from the lieutenant governor position

“I don’t think that they will. I think that over the next two months, I’m gonna have conversations to build those relationships to let them know we have tradition in Texas. We are the most deliberative body in the nation, or at least we ought to be. Let’s make sure that we are, and that the best way to have a smooth session is to work with me and for me to work them. I’m, again, bringing in a bipartisan transition team to make sure that we’re having those conversations to say,’ look, the best outcome for Texans — and that’s what we’re here for — is to work together collaboratively.”

Approach toward lieutenant governor role

“Dan Patrick had a say in everything that happened in the Senate. And so even though members were committee chairmen and women, they still — really, it was Dan Patrick making the decisions. I want the senators to know that when you are a chair of a committee, you get to decide what bills are coming through the committee. And so they will have the opportunities to really shape what comes out of the Senate. I think they should enjoy that.”

Working with Republican-majority in Texas Senate

“I think it’s good to have balance. I think balance is really important. We now have a Democratic House, a Republican majority in the Senate. So people are gonna have to work together. I’ve been in the minority party for eight years in the House, and I’ve learned how to get my bills through with Republicans, and you negotiate. You figure out what’s in the best interest, where can we find common ground. So I think we’re gonna have to do a lot of that this session.”

On danger of Democrat overreach and if she’s urging restraint

“I think the process will handle that because, again, Democrats may be able to get some of the initiatives passed through the House, but they’ll still come to the Senate with the Republican majority. And I think everyone’s a realist, but we want to focus on those things that the voters told us are important— affordability, for example. How can we make Texans’ lives less expensive? Insurance is a good example. Health insurance is very expensive. Home insurance is expensive. We have some of the highest rates in Texas. So how can we address that issue? Housing prices are very high. How can we adjust that issue. So I think that people are really gonna focus on the kitchen table issues that they know that both parties are equally concerned about.”

Affordability

“Let me give the example of utility costs. We’ve seen a lot of concern as I was on the campaign trail about the data centers and the amount of water and energy that they use and building out new transmission and higher utility costs as a result. That’s something that we can tackle. We can put some regulation in place to make sure that the data centers aren’t pushing those costs onto us and our households.”

Data centers

“So I think that the removing the sales tax exemptions that were put in place in 2013 is something that I imagine we all agree on. We gave $1 billion worth of sales tax exemptions in 2025 that would increase to $3.5 billion over the next couple of years. So it’s time to end that. And I think there’s agreement. I think also agreement that right now our cities have some ability to say whether or not a data center is located there, but our counties don’t. So I’ve heard from a number of people the interest of having some land use authority for our counties so that they can make the decision locally. Is this the right project for this particular location? I think that would make people a lot more comfortable. I think making sure that data centers have to provide information about how much water and energy they’re using and where they’re getting it from. These are some common sense things. People just wanna know and they want to have some say in where data centers are being built.”

Immigration enforcement

“Well, first of all, I want to undo the law that allows racial profiling. We shouldn’t allow people to be pulled over simply for the color of their skin. I also have talked on the campaign trail about ending the 287g agreements that force our local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE. That’s the job of ICE, not our local enforcement. I want make sure that they’re focused on community safety. And third of all, I think that we need to put pressure on Congress to finally pass immigration reform. It’s way past due.”

“I think it’s possible to scale back the amount that we’re spending on Operation Lone Star. I think there’s smarter ways to do that. And we’ve spent billions and billions of dollars on that. And right now, we don’t have the number of people coming across the border. So I certainly think that we can work better with our local communities — again, our local law enforcement. And when the need is there, we can support.”

Prediction markets & gambling

“I’m not as versed in those prediction markets, but I know I have heard a lot of concern about it. So that’s something I certainly look forward to working on. I think the concern I’ve heard is just how prevalent it is, how easy it is to access it on your phone, and the concern that young people in particular might go overboard. So if we need to put some regulation in place, I certainly look forward to working with senators on that issue.”

“I’m not for or against (legalizing gambling in Texas). So my preference would be to put it up to a vote of Texans.”

“That would be my preference,” she said in regard to a referendum, as opposed to legislation. “But I’m open to seeing what ideas other senators and members have.”

Other issues she’d prefer Texans vote on instead of Texas Legislature

“Well, if we can’t get Medicaid expansion done simply through passing a law, that’s something that I’ve heard people have an appetite for. Honestly, I would like to have a method for citizen-led ballot initiatives, where the citizens of Texas could get petition signatures and put something up to a vote.”

Final thoughts

“Right now I’m just so focused on building those relationships with senators and making sure we have a smooth transition and making sure that we have a good start to the next session and that we’re serving the people of Texas. I’m just really excited, again, to be the first woman lieutenant governor and looking forward to working with all the senators.”

Watch Vikki Goodwin’s live interview on KSAT:

• Texas lieutenant governor-elect Vikki Goodwin lays out priorities during KSAT Q&A