Mike Collier vs. Dan Patrick?

Election 2018 has already begun. Last week, Mike Collier cautiously threw his hat into the lieutenant governor's ring against current officeholder Dan Patrick. The corporate financial consultant and PricewaterhouseCoopers alum said he's assembling a campaign team to take on the controversial incumbent, but has also already given himself an escape clause. "When I am confident that I can run a winning campaign, I'll make a formal announcement," he said. Collier, who lives in Houston, last ran for office in 2014, when he challenged Republican Glenn Hegar for the empty post of state comptroller. He lost the race 58% to 38%, very much in line with the defeats suffered by Democratic Sens. Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte in the race for governor and lieutenant governor. However, Hegar, a pragmatic fiscal conservative, was arguably the least divisive Republican on that slate. Moreover, Patrick's championing of the so-called "bathroom bill" has raised ire among the state's business sector, which may see Collier and his corporate oversight experience as a viable alternative. Since 2015, he's served as the Texas Democratic Party's finance chair. In accepting his resignation from that post, TDP chair Gilberto Hino­josa praised Collier for building the infrastructure that provided the party its best presidential election showing in two decades.