Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of Texas, centers her life around not only policy, but also celebration — of 23 years of marriage, raising six children and six grandchildren, and a successful pharmaceutical career and business.

Baptisms, birthdays, and graduations are all met with meals and feasts prepared by the admitted "very good cook," who often wasn't in the financial position to take all her children out to eat more than once a week when they were growing up. But, preparing meals comprised of fresh fruit and veggies, enchiladas or time-consuming tamales has been her responsibility since she was 13 years old — Van de Putte's mother was a full-time choir director who was also finishing up her degree — so Van de Putte is no stranger to meeting the desires of a diverse and fickle audience.

She minds her family, manages her own pharmacy and medical clinic, and champions the rights of veterans, parents, victims of human trafficking, teachers, and children. But initially, the San Antonio resident had no intention of pursuing politics.

"I wish I could say that it was an intense desire to be in public policy, or that this was my dream," but that wasn't the case, Van de Putte said during an interview with Latin Post. "There was a vacancy. I got angry. There were very few women. I put my name in and I won. I have loved the policy side ever since, and I'm getting a little better at the politics."

As an advocate for quality childhood education, preventive healthcare, and preventive medicine, Van de Putte has publicly commented that not enough energy or funds have been put toward preventing prenatal disorders or premature births. She's also criticized GOP budget cuts to education, saying Republicans have "bragged" about doing so.

"The Republican legislature cut our public schools by 5.4 billion dollars, and our higher education, [by] over a billion. We're having a budget shortfall, but we didn't need to cut that severely," said Van de Putte, who was a Kellogg Fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "It's very difficult for our schools, and for higher education. [It puts] that pressure on higher tuition at the college level."

"Twelve thousand teachers lost their jobs in the classroom. And, the programs that help students to be successful were absolutely decimated, Van de Putte said, adding that effective early childhood education is important, too, leading to healthy, productive and successful lives.

She's a "female, pharmacist, mother — but, it's more now about being a grandmother, an abuelita," she says. "It's very American and very Latino to want the next generation to have better opportunities and better education levels. That's who we are. It's that constant desire to want your kin to get all of your missed opportunities. So, for me, knowing that that demographic is straining — children in poverty — I have a stake that, not just for Latinos. Look at your African American or white [communities], it makes no difference. That trial, that poverty, that is our challenge — to make sure they get to and through that high school graduation, and are prepared for the next step."

Van de Putte is concerned abouthHousing discrimination, redistricting, rezoning, and fighting for dual language programs —all struggles faced by the Latino community across America, particularly in Texas. She is also focused on Texas' infrastructure needs (highways, road system) and the need for the development of water projects — priorities that have earned her the respect of both Democrats and Republicans.

And if any state is able to set an example for strong civic duty, that state can be Texas — due to its rich, multicultural history, Van de Putte said.

"Latinos, Tejanos mainly, have been here for 300 years. Our Texas didn't just start in 1836. In the state archive, all the original documents are in Spanish. Texas has always been multicultural; it's always had a fabric of being very accepting of people who want to come here with a spirit of entrepreneurship, hard work, and family," she said. "People forget — that beautiful part of our culture, from the strong Mexican culture of 'mi casa es su casa,' it is very welcoming.

"Being from Texas is more than an identity — it's that spirit of 'you can do anything.' It's not always pretty, but we honor rugged individualism; that sense of entrepreneurship; that 'pull yourself up from your own boot straps' mentality. But, it's also a place where neighbors tend to help neighbors," Van de Putte said.

"People outside of Texas think, 'Oh, those Texans, they always brag.' Well, we don't think it's bragging. We are who we are."

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