A prominent Tarrant County Republican is crossing party lines in the lieutenant governor's race and endorsing the Democrat.
Outgoing Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley (R) is throwing his support behind Democrat Mike Collier in his quest to unseat Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R).
"I'm not supporting Mike as a Democrat, I'm supporting Mike as a person," Whitley said in interview on the KRLD Morning News.
Whitley said among the many reasons he's supporting Collier is his pledge to hold the line on property taxes.
"That means he's going to work with local elected officials and treat them as partners as opposed to the enemy," Whitley said.
Whitley and Patrick have had an adversarial relationship for many years. The Tarrant County judge says Patrick has been a divider throughout his political career.
"Since 2006, when Dan Patrick was elected to the Senate, each year we've seen Austin get more and more divided," Whitley said. "At the same time. he's demonized local elected officials and tried to blame us for the skyrocketing property taxes."
Following the endorsement that Whitley announced over the weekend, Patrick fired back.
"It’s no surprise @Judge_Whitley, who made @TarrantCountyTX property taxes among the highest in TX, doesn’t get it," Patrick tweeted. "People are being taxed out of their homes by big spending local governments. Collier & Whitley are two-of-a-kind, tax hiking, big spenders."
Whitley said Patrick is the one largely to blame for high property taxes.
"At any point in time as lieutenant governor, he could have passed legislation and put on the governor's desk legislation that would have cut our property taxes by more than half," Whitley said. "And he's just not done that."
Whitley said he's already started to hear the RINO -- Republican In Name Only -- insult over his decision, but said that doesn't matter to him.
"I'm not fazed too much by that," he said. "I just kind of feel like I'm one of the old Republicans, moderate Republicans, and not one of the far right."
Whitley is not running for re-election as Tarrant County judge.
As for the race between Republican Tim O'Hare and Democrat Deborah Peoples to succeed him, Whitley said he will not make an endorsement in that race.
Whitley had supported former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, who lost to O'Hare in the primary back in March.
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