Lupe Valdez
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lupe Valdez has accepted an invitation to debate her runoff opponent, Andrew White, on May 11 in Austin, according to her campaign.
White, who was the runner-up in the March primary, has been pushing to debate Valdez since the beginning of the runoff. Up until now, her campaign has expressed openness to debating White without committing to anything.
Andrew White
The event, which comes three days before early voting starts, will take place at the University of Texas at Austin, according to organizers. It is being put on by a coalition of party groups that includes the State Tejano Democrats, Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, Texas Stonewall Democrats, Texas Young Democrats, Texas College Democrats and the Travis County Democratic Party.
“I look forward to telling my story, and showing how decades of experience delivering progressive solutions and keeping people safe have prepared me to be Texas Governor,” Valdez said in a statement. “I have long known what my values are. I’m a Texas Democrat.”
White added in his own statement: “The debate is on! Democratic voters are looking for the best candidate to beat [Republican Gov.] Greg Abbott, and I welcome the opportunity to convey my message of common sense, sanity, and doing right by Texas.”
I’ve wanted this for awhile. I’m glad it’s finally happening but annoyed it took this long. There was a lot more attention that could have been paid to this race if there had been more events. At least we’ll have this.
I should note, there was a town hall event a few days ago featuring White and Valdez, among others. Among the things that resulted from this is Valdez reckoning with her record on immigration, and White promising to sell his interest in a border security firm if he’s the nominee. That’s why you have events like these, to hash this stuff out and get the candidates where they need to be, while there’s still time to pick the nominee.
I’m laughing that Lupe feels the need to apologize for allowing ICE to pick up and deport criminals caught fair and square by her own cops. “Gee, I’m really sorry we enforced the law.”
Why would you go into law enforcement if you feel that way?