Lupe Valdez becomes first Latina and openly gay woman to earn major party nomination for Texas governor
In the biggest runoff Tuesday, former Dallas County Sherriff Lupe Valdez beat businessman Andrew White to gain the Democratic nomination for governor and will challenge incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott in November.
Valdez is the first Latina as well as the first openly gay woman to be nominated for governor by a major party in Texas history.
At the beginning of the night, it appeared as if the race was leaning towards White by just the narrowest of margins, with the candidates separated by just 100 votes at one time. However, Valdez pulled ahead and never relinquished the lead, defeating White by 7 percent and a margin of 53-46.
That margin was about the same in Denton County, where voters favored Valdez over White 56-43.
After his loss, White gave Valdez his endorsement on Twitter.
Congratulations to @LupeValdez for winning the Democratic nomination for Governor of Texas. She has my endorsement and my support.
Let’s #DoRightTX and win in November!
— Andrew White (@randrewwhite) May 23, 2018
White also told supporters in Houston that he was, “proud of what we accomplished in the last six months, and now I’m going to fight for Beto, Lupe and all the great Democratic candidates.
Valdez will have a tough road ahead of her running as the Democratic Nominee in a mostly red state. Texas has not elected a Democrat to state wide office since 1994 and as has not elected a Democratic governor since Ann Richards in 1990.
“I am constantly hearing this is going to be such an uphill battle,” she told supporters in Dallas. “Please, tell me when I didn’t have an uphill battle. Was it when she had to take a city bus from the barrio and travel across San Antonio to get to school, or when she held “two to three jobs to get to go to college? I am getting darned good at uphill battles.”
After the race had been called, she took the time to thank White and tell her supporters that she is looking forward to the final race with Abbott in November.
Let's win this! pic.twitter.com/sWTZ9QFifG
— Lupe Valdez (@LupeValdez) May 23, 2018
The runoff Tuesday marked the end of a six month primary with no candidate raising more that $1 million.
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