By: Josh Brodesky
More Texans voted for someone other than (Dan) Patrick during the primary.
In some ways, Collier is an unlikely, but fitting figure for this political moment. He’s not a traditional politician. He’s a former auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He even once was a Republican.
He ran for comptroller in 2014 only after reading Democrats might not field a candidate. He had the finance background and the time.
“I cold-called the party,” he said. “I literally was reading the newspaper.”
After he lost, Collier took a listening tour across the state. He said he heard the same feedback from voter after voter. Stay out of social issues. Focus on education and property taxes.
So, that’s what he is doing. He calls himself the pro-public education candidate. He talks a lot about school finance as the root cause for rising property taxes. The gist being Texas has failed to adequately fund public schools, which has forced local districts to pick up the slack by raising taxes. He shows little patience for bathroom bills and other “policies devoid of substance.”