Big news today out of Texas:
Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez announced Wednesday morning that she is running for governor, giving Texas Democrats a serious candidate for the top job with five days until the candidate filing deadline for the 2018 primaries.
"Like so many hardworking Texans, I know it’s tough deciding between buying food, finding a decent place to live, and setting aside money for college tuition," Valdez said in a statement. "Opportunity in Texas ought to be as big as this great state, but it is out of reach for far too many, that’s why I’m running for Texas Governor. I’m a proud Texas Democrat. I believe good government can make people’s lives better, and I intend to do just that."
Valdez's campaign said she will deliver remarks and file for governor at 11:45 a.m. at the Texas Democratic Party headquarters in Austin.
Until Wednesday, six little-known Democrats had filed to challenge Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking a second term in 2018. Andrew White, the son of late Gov. Mark White, has been exploring a run for weeks and is set to announce his campaign Thursday in Houston.
Any Democrat running for governor faces a steep climb against Abbott, who easily defeated the party’s 2014 nominee, Wendy Davis, and has built a $40 million-plus war chest for re-election. Texas has not elected a Democrat to statewide office in over two decades.
Valdez is serving her fourth term as sheriff of Dallas County, the second most populous county in the state and a Democratic stronghold. She drew national attention when she was first elected in 2004 as the state’s first openly gay female Hispanic sheriff.
And Valdez has a history of standing up to Abbott:
First elected during Dallas County's Democratic wave in 2004, Valdez has stepped up her statewide and national profiles over the last two years. In 2015, she picked a fight with Abbott when she tweaked Dallas County's jail policies. That winter, Valdez stated that her office would no longer honor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests for Dallas County Jail inmates who would otherwise be released on bail. When Abbott found out about the policy, he threatened Valdez with the loss of certain state funds if she didn't take back her directive. Valdez said at the time that it's essential that local law enforcement officers not act as de facto immigration agents.
"We have to maintain the trust of our community" in order to work with the community, she said. "We cannot maintain that trust if we are going around challenging and asking questions of everyone we approach. They would have questions about us and what our motives are."
Valdez never repealed her policy — as of earlier this year, she hadn't turned down a detainer request because of it, either — but her actions, along with those of Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez in 2017, spurred Abbott and the legislature to pass Senate Bill 4, Texas' so-called "sanctuary cities" bill. SB 4, currently on hold because of a legal challenge, threatens officials with removal from office if Texas' cities and local law enforcement agencies don't cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
In 2016, Valdez gave a Thursday night, prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention, introducing the families of several police officers killed on the job. As she did, she decried rhetoric from now-President Donald Trump that she viewed as divisive.
"Violence is not the answer," she said. "Yelling, screaming and calling each other names is not going to do it. Talking within your own group in your language only your group understands leads nowhere. We have to start listening to each other."
Stay tuned.