Patrick and Van de Putte Agree to Debate in September

State Sens. Dan Patrick and Leticia Van de Putte, the Republican and Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor, are set to debate next month in Austin.

The candidates will face off Sept. 29 in an hourlong debate that will be hosted by The Texas Tribune and take place at the KLRU studio in Austin.

This week, Patrick told the Tribune that the Austin debate would be the only one he would participate in with Van de Putte. 

Van de Putte previously proposed five debates with Patrick, calling for forums in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and the Rio Grande Valley that would be hosted by various news outlets.

The Van de Putte campaign had initially proposed that the Austin debate be held during The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 20. Both Van de Putte and Patrick are scheduled to participate in separate interviews during the festival.

But the Patrick campaign declined the Van de Putte campaign's debate proposal, saying it wanted a debate schedule that is "respectful to and complementary of" the gubernatorial debates. 

Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott and Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis, the gubernatorial candidates, are scheduled to participate in two debates in the coming months.