Two-woman ticket in Texas goes for history in 2014

[Tx4obama]

Two-woman ticket in Texas goes for history in 2014

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Forget whether Hillary Clinton could win the White House in 2016. Women still have yet to run many statehouses, but in 2014 two Texas Democrats are going for a new kind of history: Winning as an all-female ticket for governor and lieutenant governor.

Woven into one of the nation's most intriguing gubernatorial races this year is whether Democrat Wendy Davis, whose 11-hour filibuster over abortion restrictions catapulted the state senator to national fame this summer, can not only overcome long odds in a fiercely Republican state but pull off a political first.

If Davis and fellow state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, who is running for lieutenant governor, prevail in their March primaries as expected, they'll form what political experts say is only the fifth time in at least the past 20 years that a party has nominated women for both governor and lieutenant governor.

None of these pairings has ever won - nor have a woman governor and lieutenant governor ever served concurrently. Arizona in 1998 picked five women to the state's top executive offices, including then-attorney general Janet Napolitano, though the state has no lieutenant governor.

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Full article here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_THE_FEMALE_TICKET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-01-01-15-51-49

A Good Read

[longship]

1. Gawd, I love those two.

Two incredible people.

When Wendy did her filibuster, I first learned about Van de Putte. She is quite an astounding person in her own right.

When TX senate Republicans repeatedly attempted to break through Davis filibuster of SB5, Van de Putte brings the senate gallery down with a simple, 10 second parliamentary inquiry. The Republicans never got hold of the proceedings until after the midnight deadline.

Here is that moment:

Go Wendy! Go Leticia!

[Tx4obama]

2. I love that video, it's one of my favorites of 2013 :)

Senator Van de Putte: "At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room?”

Her remarks resulted in loud applause and cheering from the Senate gallery, which lasted for nearly 15 minutes. The gallery continued to deafen the Texas Senate until shortly after midnight.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/26/watch-texas-state-sen-leticia-van-de-putte-sparks-15-minutes-of-chaos/

Leticia R. San Miguel Van de Putte (born 6 December 1954) is a Democratic member of the Texas Senate representing the 26th District. She was previously a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

Family

Van de Putte was born in Tacoma, Washington, and raised in San Antonio, where she currently lives with her husband, Henry P. "Pete" Van De Putte Jr. Van de Putte has six children and six grandchildren.

Education

Senator Van de Putte was a Kellogg Fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1993. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Texas at Austin, College of Pharmacy, and she is a 1973 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School (San Antonio, Texas).

Career before politics

She was and still is a practicing pharmacist.

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More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leticia_R._Van_de_Putte

An additional bio page, here: http://www.vandeputte.senate.state.tx.us/