Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has 233 times as much cash on hand as his Democratic rival, Mike Collier, heading into the fall campaign.
Texans for Dan Patrick will report that it has raised almost $4.5 million between Feb. 25 and June 30 and has nearly $14 million in the bank. The report will be filed by Monday’s deadline with the Texas Ethics Commission.
Collier will report raising $265,000 in the same period, with $60,000 in the bank.
Despite the huge fundraising gap, the Collier campaign said it had experienced a surge in contributions at the very end of the reporting period after a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll showed Collier within 6 points of Patrick, and Breitbart News reported that results of a Gravis Poll that had Collier within 2 points of Patrick.
“My race is essentially tied, even though Dan Patrick spent $10-plus million in the Republican primary,” Collier said. “We are running a substantive campaign, exciting grassroots support, focusing on issues that matter like public education, health care and property tax reform, while deploying state-of-the-art campaign technology. It’s clearly working. I have no doubt I can raise the money to compete and win in November.”
Allen Blakemore, Patrick’s chief strategist, said that the $45 million Patrick has raised so far in his two runs for lieutenant governor is more than any lieutenant governor in Texas history across two cycles.
“People know Dan is a principled conservative leader who does the right thing and doesn’t back down,” Blakemore said. “They like him, they trust him and they want to see him re-elected.”