First, get someone to actually run

I certainly agree that the Democratic statewide ticket would benefit from the presence of a qualified Latino candidate or two or three. Agreeing on that is the easy part. Finding someone who qualifies as qualified and who is actually willing to get into a race, especially if it means not resigning from or not running for re-election to an office he or she would easily hold indefinitely, that’s the hard part.

Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of Cameron County Democratic Party and a member of the Democratic National Committee, said state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, one of the best known Latino elected officials in Texas, would make a great lieutenant governor.

“Someone like Leticia brings all the attributes we need for a strong candidate for lieutenant governor. She is smart, she is aggressive, she is not afraid to do what is right,” said Hinojosa, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.

[…]

“The key to everything here in Texas is the Latino vote. That is the make or break, the do or die for the Democratic Party,” Hinojosa said. “If the Latino vote increases by eight to ten percent in this state Texas becomes blue. We would have a Democratic governor, a Democratic lieutenant governor, and every position up and down that ballot. But, unless you increase that vote you are not going anywhere.”

In addition to Van de Putte, Hinojosa said state Reps. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo, and Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, would be great candidates for statewide office.

I agree with all this, but someone has to step up and run first. I’m lukewarm on Raymond, but Van de Putte and/or Villarreal would be awesome, for whatever office they wanted. Now how do you make it make it happen?

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