WACO, Texas — Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick visited Waco's Hippodrome Monday afternoon. The stop was a part of his 131-stop campaign tour aimed at reaching rural Texans.
"We want to recognize the voters, listen to the voters on our tour and let them know how important they are for the future of our state and our country," Lt. Gov. Patrick said. "America can't be strong without a strong Texas. And in Texas, we can't strong unless rural voters come out to vote."
He spoke about the importance of securing the southern border after he said the Biden Administration dropped the ball.
"Because the federal government is not doing the job, we have to step up with our national guard, our troopers, our state guard, doing everything we can," Patrick said. "On the border, we've apprehended thousands of criminals who should not be in this country and enough fentanyl doses to kill America."
Last year the state spent more than $4 billion on border control. While Patrick admits they're spending the most since he's been in office, he said it's important for everyone's safety.
"I'm concerned for those coming here," he said. "Of the women, children being sex trafficked and the people dying in the back of an 18-wheeler. That's not the way to come to America.
The Lt. Gov. also talked about property taxes, which he says will be lower this year after the state passed a bill putting a cap on funding for cities, counties, and schools.
"When I say we put a cap on cities and counties of 3.5 percent, they can't go higher than that with their budgets without the vote of the people," Patrick said. "But in the school districts what we did was cap them at 2.5 percent. People say 'oh you capped our schools at 2.5 percent, but they've been growing at 7 percent.' the state of Texas is filling that money up."
The tour of rural Texas will continue over the next eight weeks.
