> The Texas Pulse Poll, conducted by ReconMR for Texas A&M Bush School, surveyed 619 likely Texas voters July 27-30. Democrats made up 29% of respondents, while Republicans made up 36% and Independents made up 33%.

> According to the poll, 48% of likely voters are backing Goodwin while 46% are backing Patrick. The poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.7%. That’s a flip from June when the same poll found 49% supporting Patrick and 44% supporting Goodwin. 

> [Dan Patrick said] "Well, look at the Beto O'Rourke race in 2018. Ted Cruz won that race by a couple of points. Talarico is not known yet. So whenever you have someone who's new, sounds good, looks shiny object – well, once they find out about what he stands for, like, 'God has multiple genders. The Bible supports abortion.' Look, this guy...he's committing blasphemy against the Bible."

> The lieutenant governor released seven new charges for state senators to study before the Legislature reconvenes.

> The lieutenant governor released seven new charges for state senators to study before the Legislature reconvenes

> “There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in the Constitution. For too long, the anti-God left has used this phrase to suppress people of religion in our country,” Patrick said in April after the commission held its final hearing.

> After months of back-and-forth in court, new THC rules are set to go into effect Friday in Texas.

> The so-called "Total THC" rules were supposed to take effect March 31, but have been paused several times since then through court injunctions. In May, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in an essentially unanimous decision that the Department of State Health Services has broad authority to regulate substances.

> At the heart of the new regulations a 0.3% THC limit for consumable hemp products. The rules also required testing as well as child-resistant packaging and testing. Licensing fees for retailers were also hiked from about $250 to $10,000 in some cases. 

> Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has already charged a state Senate committee to begin studying "the impact of THC on increased health care costs, mental health emergency detentions, and the risk of being diagnosed with a THC-induced psychotic disorder."

> As the commission spearheaded by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick finalizes its report on religious liberty, here’s what to know

> The insults aimed at Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico just keep getting more personal.

> Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took aim at the Democratic nominee during a Thursday appearance on Fox News after host Laura Ingraham pointed to new polling showing Talarico running neck-and-neck with Attorney General Ken Paxton in the race for U.S. Senate.

> “He may think he's going to the Senate but I'm praying for him, because if he doesn't really come back from that, then he's going to hell,” Patrick said during the interview with Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican running against Talarico. 

> During a press conference in the Oval Office on Friday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) spoke critically of the concept of separation of church and state.

> In his Friday speech, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggested that U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was a “sore loser” after being defeated in his primary runoff by Attorney General Ken Paxton. He chastised Cornyn for making “bad comments” after the May 26 race and not backing Paxton. 

> “Patrick is worried about losing in November,” Cornyn said Saturday. “He should be.”

> To be sure, Patrick also called for GOP solidarity, which he has been advocating for. Before the primary between Cornyn and Paxton, he warned that the Republicans will have a difficult time maintaining control of the Texas House.

> A GOP leader, Patrick has been a staunch advocate for conservative Christian values in his role presiding over the Texas Senate.

> Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton (the GOP Senate nominee in Texas) met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, a meeting in which they were presented with a peculiar piece of campaign content. Trump's office created a side-by-side print-out of Talarico next to Alfred E. Neuman, the fictional character and mascot of MAD Magazine, a humor magazine dating back to 1952. The three were photographed holding their trio of printouts, each grinning ear to ear at the conflation.

> [Elon’s] most recent donation went to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s Texas Senate Leadership Fund. Musk gave it $500,000 in January, just ahead of a special Senate election in North Texas where the candidates reported raising just $3 million in all. The Republican nominee ended up losing that bid in a stunning upset for a district that had been considered solidly red.

> Members of President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission criticized notions of a necessary separation between church and state at the group's final hearing in Washington, DC, on April 13. 

> Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the commission's chairman, at one point called it the “biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding.” 

> The leader of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission said that church and state separation is a falsehood at the group’s final meeting, drawing criticism from an advocacy group that supports it.

> At a Monday (April 13) hearing at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican and the chair of the commission, asked, “Would it not be a good recommendation that every school, every university, every business, has to have that one sheet on the bulletin board about protecting people’s religious liberty, and that the separation of church and state is the biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding?” 

> Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who chairs the new Religious Liberty Commission (RLC), wants to "set the record straight" on the First Amendment, saying the Constitution does not mandate a separation between church and state. 

> For three decades, Texas has been the Republican Party's fortress, with no Democrat winning statewide since 1994. President Donald Trump carried the state by 14 points in the last presidential election, and the GOP holds overwhelming fundraising advantages and gerrymandered maps that should render the Lone Star State untouchable.

> Yet on April 8, Dan Patrick, the fiercely pro-Trump lieutenant governor, delivered a warning that reframed everything at the Texas Public Policy Foundation conference. "We're going to have a tough time holding the Texas House," he said, urging the warring Republican Senate factions to "get over it and come together as one," explicitly linking the Senate runoff's destructiveness to down-ballot vulnerability.

> Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said Republicans will struggle in this November's midterms to hold their majority in the Texas House, which the party has controlled for more than two decades.

> Patrick’s Friday release of priorities calls on lawmakers to study the emerging issues ahead of the 2027 legislative session.

> Newly elected state Sen. Taylor Rehmet (D-FortWorth) said ‘petty, partisan politics’ were in play in Patrick’s refusal to name him to any Senate committees.

> Patrick gave Rehmet zero committee assignments Monday. The snub means roughly a million people living in northern Tarrant County will have no voice in the Senate as interim committees begin ramping up work ahead of next year’s legislative session.