Texas Lieutenant Governor when the opposite party controls the Senate?

[Vega]

What happens to the position of Lieutenant Governor if the opposite party of the sitting LG controls the Senate? Is LG's power severely diminished?

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

We don't really know, because the only time that has happened in recent memory was the period from 1997-1999 when the state senate had a Republican majority but a Democratic lieutenant governor, Bob Bullock.

Even in the '90s, there was much less party polarization. The Senate Republicans were far more moderate than they are today, and the Senate Democrats still had a significant white moderate contingent. Bob Bullock was the consummate old-school consensus builder who worked well with both parties; allegedly George W. Bush preferred having him as lieutenant governor in his first term to having Rick Perry as lieutenant governor in his second term.

It worked fine for that brief period in the '90s. It would likely be a gridlocked disaster today.

[CatoMinor]

The TX senate is a fairly close knit group compared to their House counterparts, I see them interact every day. I feel as long as nothing overly dramatic happened that forced them to push back, the Lt. Governor would continue being the powerful position it is today.