Well, good evening, Crisco Democrats. So good to be here with you. So I am Vicky Goodwin. I'm in my fourth term in the Texas House. I ran for the first time in 2018. Trump won in 2016. I was in shock and I said, I've got to do something more.
I'm going to run for office. People sometimes say, why didn't you decide to run for the Texas House? Well, when I was growing up, my mom was very involved in public schools. She ended up being on the Dallas School Board in 1989. She got frustrated because it wasn't the school board that
decided how much money went to the schools, it was the Texas legislature. So my passion for public schools comes from my mom and all the work that she did. But also, I don't live in the city of Wimpson, so I can be a city council member. What is going on today after Trump got elected work to his second term?
It's very similar to what happened in 2018. We see people coming out of the woodwork saying, Oh my god, what's just happened? I've got to get involved. In 2026, we have a huge opportunity to flip seats in the Texas House and to flip statewide races. That opportunity scares Trump. His policies are unpopular.
His popularity rating is sinking. And so because of that desperation, he had the Department of Justice write the letter to Texas telling Abbott to redraw our congressional districts. Now in 2020, they tried similar tactics to change the election laws after the election was stolen. And we knew that this was going to be bad news.
This was going to disenfranchise voters. So Democrats broke warm in 2021, and I was one of them. We went to Washington, D.C., the Republicans hated that, even though we ultimately came back, they ultimately passed some bad bills. But they didn't want us to do that again. So they changed the rules
And now there is a $500 a day fine for any individual member who does warm break. But regardless, our democracy is worth using every tool in the toolbox. Do you all agree? And they have been here talking to us saying that we have to do everything possible to stop redistricting. Now, personally, I think at a time when Trump is
doing so many awful things, I don't know how Republicans can win any congressional district at this time. But regardless, they have computer programs, and there's a lot of people out there who don't really understand who Democrats are and what we stand for. So it's incumbent upon us to educate them and let them know what it is we're trying to do. So I am running for lieutenant governor because our current
lieutenant governor is correct, because he runs the Senate with an iron fist, and because he has bad policy. But what I've been running for is to support our public schools, to increase access to health care, to work on water issues, and housing affordability. Now, when it comes to health care, I believe women should be able to make their own personal private health care decisions.
And doctors have come to me saying that we have this epidemic of gun violence and we've got to do something about it. I served on Homeland Security and Public Safety for three sessions. I knew that in Texas, passing laws around guns would be very difficult. So I worked with the Department of Public Safety to
try to close one of the loopholes around background checks. Now I tried to pass a bill that would have installed universal background checks, everyone having to go through a background check before buying a gun. Most people agree with that. It makes sense. But I that one wasn't going to pass, so I worked with DPS around the bill that has to do
with your handgun license. So if someone has a handgun license, they can go into a gun store and bypass a background check. Now they might have gotten a license years ago, they could have assaulted somebody in the meantime, and now even though they're not legally able to buy a gun, they can because that will be a piece of plastic. DPS said it would be helpful if you if any
gun seller would have to run that card number through a database. You can do it in seconds on your phone. There's an app and make that a law. So I tried to pass that, it didn't pass. So simple things, because of the current leadership that we have in Texas, we can't get these things that make sense that the majority of Texans want.
So that's why we need new leadership. And just remember, I need each and every one of you to spread the word. We need a good win, good win for Texas.
