Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez says, “She’s in.” Valdez officially resigned as sheriff and filed her candidacy for governor at the Texas Democratic Party in Austin. Valdez said she’s running to give every Texan the opportunity they deserve.
It was in 2015 when Gov. Greg Abbott and Valdez first butted heads over federal immigration policy.
Valdez told a packed room of reporters at the party’s headquarters in downtown Austin that she was running to help everyday Texans, who are concerned about issues ranging from healthcare and retirement to immigration and being deported.
“For far too long hard working Texans have been left behind, left out and quite frankly attacked for who they are, where they come from and who they love," Valdez told reporters.
And those are some of the reasons why Valdez says, “She’s in.”
“I’m stepping up for Texas, for everyone’s fair shot to get ahead, I’m in," Valdez said.
Andrew White, son of the late Gov. Mark White, will announce his gubernatorial candidacy at an event in Houston Thursday.
Manny Garcia, deputy executive director for the Texas Democratic Party, said White's announcement should complete the field of candidates they are expecting will run for governor.
“We are now happy to see that the top of the ticket is getting filled out. We look forward to a robust primary to talk about what kind of party we want to be," Garcia said.
Democratic consultant Ed Espinoza, with the group Progress Texas, said despite any Democrat who runs has a shot at defeating Abbott in November.
“Republican votes are stagnant in this state. They have barely picked up votes in the last decade — look at the numbers. Republicans have picked up maybe 100,000 votes in 10 years. In presidential elections, Democrats have picked up a million votes," Espinoza said.
Another challenge for any Democratic nomination for governor is the $45 million in campaign funds the Abbott campaign has collected. Valdez believes the money will not be an issue and said she will raise whatever campaign funds are necessary to win.
Abbott hasn’t commented directly about the Valdez announcement, but sent a Tweet that his campaign had picked up an endorsement from the Dallas Police Association just before Valdez announced her candidacy and then released this https://youtu.be/oYDPb1SgFMs">video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYDPb1SgFMs&feature=youtu.be
Ryan Poppe can be reached at rpoppe@tpr.org or on Twitter @RyanPoppe1
