This article is part of Texas Monthly’s special fiftieth-anniversary issue. Read about the other icons that have defined Texas since 1973.

If it’s true that the lieutenant governor runs Texas, then only six men have run the state since Texas Monthly’s first issue came out, and two have arguably been more consequential than the rest. The legendary Bill Hobby took the reins once held by his father in January 1973 and served until 1991. Dan Patrick assumed control of the Texas Senate in 2015 and recently won the opportunity to manhandle it until at least 2027. It can sometimes feel like Texas politics has gotten blander, and while that’s true in some ways—fewer margarita machines in the Capitol, for one—Patrick is ensuring the “lite guv” remains the state’s character in chief.

Origin Story

Bill Hobby
Patrician family, old money, Houston dynasty. Rice University, math nerd, naval intelligence officer.

Dan Patrick
Native son of Baltimore, born Dannie Scott Goeb. TV sportscaster, sports bar owner, right-wing talk radio host. Once had a vasectomy on air.

Call to Service

Hobby
Followed his parents into public service. Started as Texas Senate parliamentarian. Rose to policy jobs in the Legislature and the Johnson White House.

Patrick
Found Jesus behind the Tropicana casino in Las Vegas. Won a Senate seat by promising to tackle illegal immigration, which he said was flooding the state with “polio and leprosy.”

Path to Power

Hobby
First won office in a tough race against Wayne Connally, brother of former governor John Connally, then Nixon’s Treasury Secretary. (The IRS “started auditing me,” Hobby later wrote.)

Patrick
First won the office in a race against the less-than-formidable David Dewhurst, whose campaign released an animated parody of “Let It Go” from Frozen, featuring an animated, singing version of Patrick as Elsa.

Key Issues

Hobby
Long-standing, deep support of public education. 

Patrick
Forced a 2017 special session to address who could use which toilets.

Unlikely-to-Be-Fulfilled Ambition

Hobby
Running for governor.

Patrick
Running for governor.

Inspirational Quote

Hobby
On the necessity of education reform: “Texas can no longer depend on resources that come out of the ground—it must depend on ideas that come out of educated minds.” 

Patrick
On his opposition to COVID-19 restrictions that might slow the economy: “There are more important things than living.”

This article originally appeared in the February 2023 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Lite Guv Smackdown!” Subscribe today.

Image credits: Hobby: Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society/Portal to Texas History/University of North Texas Libraries; Patrick: Nick Wagner/AP