AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Associated Press projected that incumbent Dan Patrick won the lieutenant governor race over Mike Collier.

Patrick has served as lieutenant governor for eight years. In the 2018 election, Patrick beat Collier by five points with 51% of the vote to Collier’s 46% of the vote. 

This year, Patrick won with 4,306,816 votes (53.79%). Collier received 3,477,886 votes (43.44%) and Libertarian Shanna Steele got 221,558 (2.77%).

Patrick has run most of his campaign on property tax relief, securing the border, giving parents a choice in their kids’ education and raising teacher pay. This election will be Patrick’s third time running for lieutenant governor after he won in 2014 and voters re-elected him in 2018.

“Under my leadership, we have put more money into public education than any lieutenant governor in history,” Patrick said. “The other side does not line up with the values of West Texas, Central Texas and rural Texas.”

Race analysis

This is the third time Patrick is running for lieutenant governor. In 2014, he beat his Democratic challenger by almost 20%. The next time around, he won by under 5% to Collier.

Some political experts argue the lieutenant governor is the most powerful political position in the state because it’s the president of the Texas Senate, allowing that person to appoint senators to committees and set agendas for bills, according to State of Texas host Josh Hinkle.

Patrick won by 19.4% in 2014 and 4.8% in 2018
Patrick won by a narrowed margin this last election than he did the previous one (KXAN Photo)

The next lieutenant governor will need to help lawmakers navigate:

  • The state’s border and immigration strategy
  • Ongoing discussions over the state’s abortion ban
  • A renewed call for gun control following the Uvalde school shooting
  • School vouchers
  • And deciding how to further fix the state’s power grid

Since Gov. Greg Abbott won re-election Tuesday night, some political experts said it could set him up for a presidential run, Hinkle noted. That means the winner of this race is even more important because the lieutenant governor steps in. George W. Bush’s election as president was what initially put Rick Perry in the Texas governor’s seat.