Lt. Gov. candidate stops in McAllen

McALLEN — The small but spirited side room of supporters this week at Costa Messa welcomed a candidate running for lieutenant governor of Texas.

Polls have Mike Collier, the Democrat running to unseat cash-strapped and widely known Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, behind by as close as a couple points and as far back as the mid-teens.

“Realistically, Collier has no chance whatsoever for victory simply because of the natural Republican lean of Texas,” said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy. “Statewide, every Republican starts off with a 12 to 15 point advantage, and that’s what Dan Patrick has. But he’s not the most popular lieutenant governor.”

Don’t tell Collier his odds are long, as he travels the state and deploys “mean and lean” digital strategies. Collier, an accountant by trade who has made several trips to the Rio Grande Valley during the past year, said he hopes to capitalize on how “incredibly unlikable” Patrick is, how he has no regard for health care, veterans or public education.

When Collier asked the full side room this week at Costa Messa on North 10th Street how many people were teachers, more than half of the hands in the room shot up.

A more complete version of this story is available on www.myBrownsvilleHerald.com