How this score is worked out
Seven kinds of act move this number, and they do not count equally. A recorded vote counts 3, and so does authoring a bill or signing an executive action; signing on to somebody else’s bill counts 2. A statement or a questionnaire answer counts 2 as well, and an organisational endorsement counts 1. A vote takes its direction from the bill, whose effect is set out in advance; the rest take it from our reading of what was said, and each one below shows that reading and the reason for it. Acts shown with no number were examined and deliberately left out of the arithmetic, with a reason given.
- 2026-10-13 questionnaire — Wrote "Cannabis/THC should be regulated and legal for adults 21 and older" and "I support legalizing and regulating THC so adults can access it safely without facing criminal penalties or fines": support for legal, regulated adult access, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 2026-09-29 questionnaire — Answered "Strongly Support" on maintaining a legal, regulated hemp marketplace and "Yes" that regulation is preferable to prohibition, and wrote that she would work for clear, practical regulations protecting consumers without putting responsible Texas businesses out of business, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 2026-09-20 statement — Campaign platform calling for decriminalising low-level marijuana possession and for regulating THC products rather than banning them, counted as +2 at weight 2
Average on the −2 to +2 scale: 2. Full method and the bill table.
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Said2026-09-20
Her campaign platform, under a Public Safety heading titled Address Over-Policing, lists as policy bullets: "Decriminalize low-level marijuana possession and use" and "Regulate THC products with age and safety standards". The section preamble reads: "Texas relies too heavily on criminal penalties for low-level offenses that could be addressed through regulation, treatment, or community solutions."
⚠️The page carries no publication date and has no Internet Archive capture, so 2026-09-20 is the date it was read.
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Questionnaire2026-09-29
Said she would work to establish "clear, practical regulations that protect consumers without putting responsible Texas businesses out of business", in the Texas Hemp Business Council’s 2026 candidate questionnaire. The council is a hemp industry trade association; it put twenty questions to 223 candidates for the Texas Legislature and statewide office and publishes the answers it receives in full, without editing. These are the candidate’s own words, submitted by the candidate.
Asked about the future of hemp in Texas, the answer was, in full: "Vikki Goodwin has a plan to sensibly regulate THC as lieutenant governor, but she’ll need a Senate that supports that plan to get it done. As a state senator, I’ll work to establish clear, practical regulations that protect consumers without putting responsible Texas businesses out of business. That means age restrictions with meaningful enforcement, mandatory product testing, honest labeling, and clear rules to keep THC products away from schools and out of the hands of minors.
It also means protecting Texas hemp businesses and the jobs they support by providing a clear legal framework they can follow. We can prioritize public safety, hold bad actors accountable, and give responsible retailers the certainty they need to operate. We don’t have to choose between protecting Texans and supporting Texas businesses. Sensible regulation can do both, while ensuring our laws focus on safety, accountability, and fairness."
Asked who should be permitted to sell THC, to whom, at what dose, in what form and subject to what safeguards: "Licensed retailers that meet state standards for product testing, labeling, age verification, and responsible sales should be permitted to sell THC to adults 21+ only. In speaking with retailers, I have found that one of their biggest challenges is that the rules are not clear and constantly changing. Texas needs to establish clear rules, stick with them, and focus enforcement on unsafe products and bad actors."
On the questionnaire’s fixed-choice questions: on maintaining a legal, regulated hemp marketplace, "Strongly Support"; on whether regulation is preferable to prohibition where a product can be made and sold safely, "Yes"; on hemp agriculture, "Strongly Support"; on retail regulation, "Reasonable statewide licensing/registration"; on tax policy, "Yes"; on consumer choice, "Yes". The date is the date the council recorded the submission, in Central time.
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Questionnaire2026-10-13
Answered the 2026 candidate survey of the Marijuana Policy Project, a national cannabis-policy advocacy organisation, and the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, whose 2026 Texas Voter Guide prints the written comments of Senate and statewide candidates who replied. The survey asked four questions: whether to expand the Texas medical cannabis program to allow patients cannabis flower; whether limited possession of THC hemp products and up to one ounce of flower should be a civil fine of up to $100; whether cannabis and THC products should be legal to possess for adults 21 and older; and whether a legal, regulated market should be created for adult-use sales.
The guide prints a written comment from her beside each question. On medical cannabis: "As a cancer survivor, I know firsthand how difficult cancer treatment can be. Texans undergoing serious medical treatment should have access to every safe, evidence-based option that can help manage symptoms and improve their quality of life." On the civil fine: "Low-level drug offenses disproportionately impact communities of color and can pull people into the criminal justice system when they don't need to be there.
I support legalizing and regulating THC so adults can access it safely without facing criminal penalties or fines. This would allow law enforcement to focus limited resources on violent crime." On legal possession: "Cannabis/THC should be regulated and legal for adults 21 and older. By regulating it in this way, we can protect consumers, collect taxes, and keep products away from children." On a legal market: "In 2024, alcohol killed over 10,000 Texans while Hemp-derived THC deaths was essentially zero.
Clearly, cannabis is the safer of these options. Rather than banning it, we need to regulate it so that adults can make their own choices about their medical treatment and/or recreation." The guide prints no response dates; the date given is the Last-Modified date the publisher's own server returns for the guide's PDF edition (2026-10-13), the earliest date the answers are documented as published. The guide also prints the organisation's own support headings for each candidate; those are its characterisations, not the candidate's words, and are not reproduced here.