Patrick promised to end two practices which made Texas legislation much more liberal, despite an almost 2/3rds represention by Republicans:
2/3rds rule, which allows 11 of 31 Senators to block a bill from coming to the floor for a vote. There are 11 Dem Senators this session. If they stood together, they could block any bill. Wendy Davis’ pro-abortion filibuster happened during a special session wher the bill had to be considered because the Gov sets the topic for special sessions. A pro-life bill couldn’t come to the floor in the regular session because of the 2/3rds rule: Dems always blocked it.
Dem Chairs. Both Dewhurst and Straus (on the House side) have made a practice of having about half of committee chairs be Democrats. The Lt. Gov and Speaker pick the Chairs. Patrick has said he would end that practice.
Patrick has a reputation for putting Patrick first. Who cares. If he does just those two things: kills the 2/3rds rule and no Dem Chairs, then he earned my vote.
Imagine a 2/3rds rule in Washington where 1/3rd of Senators could block any legislation from coming to the floor.
Now imagine how our Republican squishes would be falling all over themselves to reach out to the other side. “We’re not really squishes, this is just the only way to get anything done. It’s not us, it’s the rules.”
That’s Texas’ 2/3rds rule in action.
Patrick ran on killing it. If it dies, so will the excuses for many Senators on why they’re really much more conservative than their voting records show.
“Patrick has a reputation for putting Patrick first. Who cares. If he does just those two things: kills the 2/3rds rule and no Dem Chairs, then he earned my vote.”
You have to...to win. But I hear you. He’s talked NON-STOP about killing off the 2/3s rule. The rule dates back to one-party Democrat rule and was intended to keep their extreme elements from mucking things up. It is TOTALLY OUTDATED now. He may concede a bit, such as a 60% rule, but he WILL NOT permit the Dems to use their 11 votes and be able to stop legislation - those days are over in the State Senate.
As to Dem chairs, I suspect that he’ll hand out some. Believe it or not there are some elected Democrats left in Texas that support American values...probably no other state, but there are some here. Let’s see what happens on this before passing judgment.