Collier Joins Texas Democratic Party as Fundraiser

Mike Collier, the Democratic nominee for comptroller who lost to Republican Glenn Hegar, is joining the state party as one of its top fundraisers.

Collier has been named finance co-chair of the Texas Democratic Party, with a focus on fundraising and development. He joins Jade Chang Sheppard, the other finance co-chair. 

In an interview Wednesday, Collier said his unsuccessful campaign for comptroller opened his eyes to the needs of the party. 

"I went from not knowing anything about campaigning and politics to knowing we need to have an infrastructure to get the word out," he said. "There's a lot of Democrats in the state, but you've got to get the message to them."

Collier plans to travel at least monthly for the new job, particularly to solidly Republican rural Texas, where he said Democrats "need to build out" their organization.

A Houston-area accountant, Collier ran for comptroller under the banner of being a "watchdog" of taxpayer money. He was handily defeated in November by Hegar, a state senator from Katy.