Voters across Texas are celebrating tonight after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was re-elected by an impressive margin.
Patrick, a former talk radio host turned Republican politician, centered his re-election campaign on an aggressive agenda of increasing teacher pay and reforming property taxes to give citizens greater control.
Both issues, along with Patrick’s strong record of success from his first four years in office, appear to have resonated with voters, giving him an edge over his Democrat opponent Mike Collier.
Patrick’s victory comes in spite of an effort by liberal Republicans like former State Rep. Bennett Ratliff and Patrick’s primary opponent, Scott Milder, both of whom worked with school administration groups and teachers’ unions in an attempt to deceive Texas teachers and scare them into voting for Patrick’s Democrat opponent.
When the polls closed, it quickly became clear those efforts failed.
Despite the false narrative — and the Texans for Public Education-led push for individuals to “block vote” against conservative candidates — Patrick and other statewide Republicans were all re-elected.
Since being elected as lieutenant governor in 2014, Patrick got to work passing the priorities of the grassroots conservatives who elected him and even went to battle against Texas House Speaker Joe Straus after legislation such as property tax reform was killed by his obstruction.
Such a result should give greater momentum to Patrick’s plan to increase teacher pay by $10,000 by requiring school districts prioritize classroom spending over administrative bloat.
