Democratic State Rep. Vikki Goodwin has won the Texas lieutenant governor seat, according to initial precinct counts. Those counts show Goodwin with 52 percent of the vote and Patrick with 46 percent.
Lieutenant governor is the state's second-highest office, and the officeholder has considerable influence over state legislation and the budget for the next four years. Patrick had held the position for 12 years and was a close ally of President Donald Trump. Goodwin campaigned on public education, clean water and energy, affordable housing, comprehensive healthcare and THC regulation.
The race also included a dispute over campaign ads. In September, Goodwin filed a criminal complaint against Patrick over two AI-generated attack ads, which she said violated state law on deepfake videos. The ads showed Goodwin in a shirt that read "taxes" instead of "Texas" at a University of Texas football game. Patrick later deleted the ads from social media. A spokesperson for Patrick told the New York Times the ads were obvious parody meant to entertain.