When Dan Patrick first arrived in the Texas Senate in 2007, the Republican lawmaker quickly developed a reputation for talking. A lot.
So much so that, during one speech, his colleagues decided to play a prank on him.
State Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville), who entered the Senate alongside Patrick, recalled how, one by one, other lawmakers quietly slipped out of the chamber and gathered in the members' lounge. Even then-Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst eventually left the dais. Patrick kept speaking to the gallery while his colleagues watched him on television from the other room.
Nearly two decades later, Patrick is the one running the Texas Senate. As lieutenant governor, he has spent nearly 12 years wielding enormous influence over which bills advance and which lawmakers get heard.
Now, the former Houston broadcaster is seeking a fourth term in office — and facing an unusually competitive challenge from Democrat Vikki Goodwin.
To understand how Patrick became one of Texas' most powerful politicians, it helps to look back at his unlikely journey to the Texas Capitol.
Patrick did not respond to The Texas Newsroom's interview request for this story, but his rise is well documented.
He arrived in Houston in 1979, when he joined CBS affiliate KHOU as a sportscaster.
In that role, Patrick had a taste for stunts, once having his torso painted in support of the Houston Oilers.
"Dan was cool because he was always a showman," said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), a longtime friend and political ally who first met Patrick at an Astrodome rally for the Oilers.
Patrick eventually left KHOU to focus on sports bars he had opened with investors. But the businesses ran into trouble, and he declared bankruptcy before returning to broadcasting, this time on the radio.
By 1988, he was running KSEV. His show, "Dan Patrick & Friends," later shifted from sports to conservative politics.
"Patrick had a pre-existing audience because of his radio career, but he also had the ability of someone who talked for a living in an entertaining way," said Josh Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.
Patrick began putting that audience to work in politics, especially rallying listeners around lowering Texas' property taxes. In 2003, he brought supporters to the Capitol to press for tighter limits on property tax appraisals.
"We were pushing from the outside in," Bettencourt said of their unsuccessful push for tax changes. Patrick, he said, began to think he could get more done from inside the Texas Legislature.
Bettencourt recalled a lunch where Patrick asked him and Houston restaurateur Edd Hendee to run for state Senate. "Why don't you run?" was Bettencourt's response. He later became Patrick's campaign treasurer.
Patrick decided to go for it, running in 2006 for an open state Senate seat representing parts of Houston and Harris County. He won nearly 69 percent of the Republican primary vote for District 7, then won the general election. He entered the state Senate in 2007.
From freshman senator to lieutenant governor
On his first day in the chamber, Patrick cast the only vote against adopting the Senate's rules. The package passed 30-1. Bettencourt recalled Patrick objecting from the start to the rule requiring a two-thirds vote to bring legislation up for debate.
Nichols said Patrick sat directly in front of him for their first two Senate sessions. Their frequent no votes earned their row of desks a nickname: the "no row."
Patrick also brought a broadcaster's habits to the floor, Nichols told The Texas Newsroom, recalling how he wanted to speak on nearly every bill.
"Patrick was Mr. Talk," Nichols said.
By 2014, the Tea Party movement was helping candidates who argued Republican leaders were not conservative enough, UT's Josh Blank said.
Nichols said Patrick could reach those voters in a way incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst could not. "He knew how to talk to those people," he said.
Patrick campaigned as a more conservative alternative to Dewhurst, who he defeated Dewhurst in a Republican primary runoff before winning the 2014 general election.
Once in office, Patrick had the power to change some of the Senate rules he'd challenged as a lawmaker.
The lieutenant governor presides over the Senate, picking committee members and chairs, assigning bills to committees and deciding which senators get recognized to speak. Those decisions can help a proposal reach a vote or keep it from moving forward.
In 2015, Patrick pushed to lower the number of votes needed to bring legislation up for debate from 21 to 19. Senators approved the change, allowing Republicans to bring bills to the floor without Democratic support.
Patrick argued that Democrats had used the previous rule to block legislation. Democrats, though, said the change weakened the chamber's longstanding tradition of compromise.
"I think it's a sad day for the Senate, and one that we will look back on with regret," said then-state Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) at the time.
In 2021, senators voted to lower the threshold again, this time to 18 votes, the same number as the chamber's Republican majority at the time. Final passage requires a separate vote.
Nichols said he supported the changes and had discussed them with Patrick as a freshman. He said the lower threshold made it easier to advance legislation he favored — but also bills he opposed.
"It's easier to pass bad legislation," Nichols said. "So because of that, sometimes I have regrets, sometimes I don't have regrets."
Still, the changes increased Patrick's influence, something he's since used to advance some longtime political priorities.
His push for school vouchers began during his Senate years. In a 2016 newsletter, he said "school choice" had been among his top issues since joining the Senate in 2007.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed a program allowing state money to pay for private school tuition into law in 2025. Lawmakers provided $1 billion to launch the program for the 2026-27 school year.
"Sometimes you have to take these ideas and keep passing them and passing them," Bettencourt told The Texas Newsroom.
Patrick has also continued to push for lower property taxes. His "Operation Double Nickel" plan would lower the age for certain school property tax benefits from 65 to 55. The proposal is one of his priorities for the 2027 legislative session, since extending the benefits would require approval from lawmakers and voters.
But, as lieutenant governor, Patrick hasn't always gotten his way.
Last year, Patrick pushed a bill banning intoxicating THC products through the Texas Legislature, despite opposition from business and veterans groups. Gov. Abbott ultimately vetoed the bill and called for regulation instead.
Patrick is also campaigning on restrictions on school library books. He wants a new law lowering schools' academic ratings if they keep books he says violate state law.
Librarians and educators dispute his characterization of many targeted titles. They say the pressure makes it harder to encourage students to read and has made librarians hesitant to buy new books.
But to pursue those proposals, Patrick must first win another term this November. Recent polling suggests the Republican incumbent is neck-and-neck with Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, who is challenging Patrick on issues including THC and property taxes.
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