Texas

Democratic Rep. Vikki Goodwin to run for lieutenant governor

Published

12 months ago

May 20, 2025

Democratic Rep. Vikki Goodwin to run for lieutenant governor

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State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, has filed paperwork to run for lieutenant governor in next year’s midterm election, giving up a safe seat in the Texas House to seek one of the state’s most powerful offices.

Goodwin has long been expected to run for the seat, currently held by Republican Dan Patrick, who has said he will seek reelection next year. The four-term Austin Democrat told the Tribune in 2023 she was mulling a run, and since then she has openly signaled her plans to allies.

She appointed a campaign treasurer for her lieutenant governor bid on Monday, the first formal step for a candidate to start raising money.

Unseating Patrick will be a daunting task for any Democrat. The lieutenant governor is sitting on a war chest of more than $33 million, and he has many deep-pocketed conservative allies ready to ride to the rescue if he finds himself endangered.

Texas Democrats have struggled to mount competitive statewide campaigns in recent years, including in 2022, when Patrick won reelection by 10 percentage points. But the party is hoping for more favorable conditions next year, driven by backlash to President Donald Trump and the prospect of Attorney General Ken Paxton — a Republican who has faced various legal scandals — leading the ballot if he is nominated for the U.S. Senate over incumbent John Cornyn.

In 2018, the first midterm under Trump, Democrat Beto O’Rourke came within 3 percentage points of defeating Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Patrick won reelection by nearly 5 percentage points that year.

Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994.

Goodwin will have to make up significant ground financially, with just over $150,000 in her campaign account as of Dec. 31, the last date covered by public campaign finance reports.

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Goodwin, a 58-year-old real estate agent, has served in the Texas House since 2019, representing a district that covers parts of west and north Austin and the western side of Travis County, including parts of Bee Cave and Lakeway. She is seen as one of the more liberal members of the state House and currently serves on the chamber’s Appropriations and Insurance committees.

With Goodwin running for lieutenant governor, Travis County Democratic Party Chair Pooja Sethi is seeking to fill the open seat. Sethi announced she is stepping down as party chair in June, and she recently filed paperwork to run in Goodwin’s district.

First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!

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Texas

Texas officials monitoring two residents who were on board ship with hantavirus outbreak

Published

2 hours ago

May 7, 2026

Press Room

Texas officials monitoring two residents who were on board ship with hantavirus outbreak

AUSTIN, Texas (KBTX) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has notified the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) that two Texas residents were passengers on the MV Hondius, a ship that experienced an outbreak of hantavirus while traveling in the Atlantic Ocean. The passengers left the ship and returned to the United States before the outbreak was identified.

“Public health workers in Texas have reached the two individuals, and they report they are not experiencing any symptoms and did not have any contact with a sick person while aboard the ship. They have agreed to monitor themselves for symptoms with daily temperature checks and contact public health officials at any sign of a possible illness,” the agency said on Thursday in a statement.

DSHS will not release additional personal details about the passengers to protect their privacy.

“This is not the next COVID, but it is a serious infectious disease,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness at the World Health Organization. “Most people will never be exposed to this.”

More than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing nearly two weeks after the first passenger died on board.

Health authorities on at least four continents are now tracking down and in some cases monitoring the cruise passengers who disembarked on April 24, and trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then.

That includes two people in Georgia who are also being monitored, according to our affiliate WTOC.

Hantaviruses are usually spread through contact with wild rodent droppings or urine. The strain in the Hondius outbreak, Andes virus, can spread from person to person in limited circumstances. It typically requires close, prolonged contact with a person who is actively sick with the disease.

It is not known to spread through casual contact such as shaking hands or being in the same room for a few minutes. There have been no documented cases where a person without symptoms spread it to someone else.

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Texas

Judge orders DHS to release Maine teen from Texas facility

Published

14 hours ago

May 7, 2026

Press Room

Judge orders DHS to release Maine teen from Texas facility

PORTLAND (WGME) – A Portland woman who has been held in a Texas ICE facility for more than six months is reportedly set to be released by Friday.

That’s according to Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who traveled to the facility this week to demand that ICE release 19-year-old Olivia Andre.

Pingree says a federal district court judge ordered Andre to be released no later than Friday.

Andre and her family were arrested by ICE when they were seeking asylum in Canada.

DHS previously said Andre is in the United States illegally but didn’t explain why the rest of her family was released and she wasn’t.

Pingree called the conditions at the facility inhumane, and Andre’s lawyer says her physical and mental wellbeing deteriorated from not having access to clean drinking water, palatable food and appropriate medical care.

“Olivia and her family should never have been detained. The federal court ordered her release because the Trump administration had no lawful basis for detaining her,” Pingree said. “She suffered in detention for six months in violation of federal law and the U.S. Constitution’s protections.”

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