AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Scott Milder, a former city council member and businessman who has been an outspoken advocate for public schools, has announced a longshot challenge of tea party-backed Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Milder is hoping to upset Patrick in the Republican primary in March. He said in an interview Thursday that Patrick’s “extreme” support for ultimately unsuccessful legislation like the “bathroom bill” targeting transgender Texans and school vouchers have alienated traditional, business-minded Republicans.
Milder said the lieutenant governor, who oversees the state Senate, runs the camber “like the bully he is.”
Milder founded “Friends of Texas Public Schools,” an advocacy group opposing Patrick-supported vouchers that would provide public money to students attending private school. In May, he lost his re-election bid to the city council in the Dallas suburb of Rockwall.
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