Democrat Mike Collier visited Amarillo on Tuesday after launching his exploratory committee for a 2022 bid for Lieutenant Governor.

Collier, a Houston-area accountant and 2018 nominee for Lieutenant Governor, stopped by downtown Amarillo on Tuesday morning to visit with Amarillo Pioneer staff about his campaign. After running a competitive bid against Republican incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in 2018, Collier says he believes the lessons he learned in that race could give him the keys to a winning campaign next year.

“It’s been a long time since a Democrat has won in Texas, but if you go back to 2018, I got very close,” Collier said. “I got within five points. I did better than all of the other Democrats in two-thirds of Texas counties. Dan Patrick outspent me by a lot, but we were still able to come within five points. And I think it’s because Dan Patrick is very well known, but not for solving problems. I think folks just want somebody to do good work and do it honestly.”

On issues of local importance to Panhandle residents, Collier said he has already been thinking about issues like water conservation, rural broadband access, and education. Regarding water conservation, Collier said the issue goes hand-in-hand with the growth of Texas and our cities.

“The question is, ‘are we managing our water resources effectively,’ and the answer is ‘no, not even close,’” Collier said. “We have ancient framework where we have these water districts and rule of capture, where whoever has the biggest pump gets to claim all of that water, and we’re doing nothing in terms of conservation. We need to revamp that whole system.”

Overall, Collier said he is planning to visit communities across Texas over the next few weeks to gauge interest in his bid for Lieutenant Governor. Collier’s Republican counterpart, Patrick, has already announced his bid for re-election.

For more information about Mike Collier, visit his website here.