Leticia Van de Putte, at San Antonio rally last week (Robert T. Garrett)
Democratic lieutenant governor hopeful Leticia Van de Putte had a shaky launch to her 6,000-mile, 30-city bus tour last week: Last Thursday, on the first full day of the tour, the bus broke down, just south of Falfurrias.
It didn’t faze the candidate, though. Van de Putte, a 24-year veteran state legislator who comes from a large family, is very comfortable amid frenzied activity by her aides, crowds small and large, and the zero privacy that attends traveling with documentary filmmakers and reporters on your bus. For background on her family, and a 1945 act of religious piety by her great-grandmother, which she says motivates her, see this story I had in Sunday’s paper. It ran as a sidebar to this overview of the race, by colleague Terrence Stutz and me.
Also, here are some photos I took in my two days with her last week. If Republican rival Dan Patrick, whose spokesman last week said he has no plans for a bus tour, changes his mind, we’ll try to hop aboard. Patrick, though, doesn’t share his schedule with the news media, so don’t hold your breath.
Top row, left: On stage in San Antonio, looking over her shoulder; right, the spot where the bus broke down. 2nd row, left, rope line in Edinburg, with actress Eva Longoria in sunglasses; in Corpus Christi, with sister Rosanne "Sonny" Valenzuela on her left and two Wesley Reed supporters. 3rd row, left, San Antonio rope line, with mother Belle San Miguel shown just above candidate's head, and Longoria to right; speaking at UT Pan American, with Tejano music star "Little Joe" Hernandez in black T shirt that says, "I Just Look Illegal." Bottom row, left, biting her tongue in Edinburg; right, along rope line in San Antonio, greeting two little girls. (Robert T. Garrett)