Van de Putte Proposes Five Debates With Patrick

Updated, 6:30 p.m.:

In response to the proposal, Patrick spokesman Alejandro Garcia said the senator looked forward to debating Van de Putte, adding that the campaign is working with a "debate promoter" to nail down its own debate schedule.

"The campaign is working to establish a debate schedule that is respectful to and complementary of the debates agreed to by the gubernatorial candidates," Garcia said in a statement.

Original story:

With Election Day less than 100 days away, state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, has proposed having five debates with her opponent, Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick.

In a letter sent Monday to the Patrick campaign, the Van de Putte campaign called for debates in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and the Rio Grande Valley that would be hosted by various news outlets, including Univision, KERA and the McAllen Monitor.

The Patrick campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the debate proposal.

The Van de Putte campaign proposed holding the debates in September and October, with the Austin debate to be held Sept. 20 at The Texas Tribune Festival. Both Van de Putte and Patrick are slated to participate in individual interviews during the festival. 

“Voters in every region of the state deserve an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates,” Van de Putte’s campaign manager, Scott Remley, said in the letter to Patrick's campaign. “We hope Senator Patrick agrees.”

The campaign is also asking that the debates be simulcast in English and Spanish and that they be hosted at a “variety of venues and formats that increase accessibility for all Texans.”