Three Democratic candidates are running for Texas lieutenant governor—the second-in-command to the governor—in the upcoming March 3 primary election.
The overview
Vikki Goodwin, Courtney Head and Marcos Vélez are seeking the Democratic nomination for Texas lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor leads the Texas Senate and can exercise the powers of the governor if the governor dies, resigns, is removed from office or is absent from the state, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes in the Democratic primary, a runoff election will be held between the two top vote-getters May 26.
The winning Democratic candidate will face the winner of the Republican nomination in November, and the winner of that election will be sworn in for a four-year term in January 2027.
Information about the Republican candidates for Texas lieutenant governor is available here.
Preparing for the polls
Early voting begins Feb. 17 for March primary races across Texas, including 18 statewide races and various local races. Registered voters may cast ballots in either Texas’ Republican or Democratic primary, but not both. Third-party candidates will appear on the ballot in November.
For more coverage of state and local races, visit communityimpact.com/election.
Meet the candidates
Community Impact gave all candidates running for contested statewide offices more than three weeks to complete the primary election questionnaire and communicated with their campaigns periodically. Community Impact's goal with election Q&As is to provide a side-by-side, equitable resource for Texas voters to review candidates' perspectives as they prepare to head to the polls.
To ensure that candidates are the ones defining their positions in Community Impact's voter guide, if candidates did not complete the questionnaire after multiple attempts to contact them, the website reads "candidate did not respond to questionnaire before press time." Candidates were informed of this policy.
Candidates were asked to keep responses under 50 words, answer the questions provided and avoid attacking opponents. Answers may have been minimally edited or cut to adhere to those guidelines, or for style and clarity.
