 What a great day in San Antonio, Texas, and a great day for the state of Texas. I'm Nelson World County Judge, and it's my pleasure to act as master of ceremonies today. The Lieutenant Governor of the state of Texas is by far the most powerful office in the state, even more powerful than the governor serving in the Texas Senate. The Lieutenant Governor acts as the presiding officer, and in June of this last year, there was a crime from the Senate floor, and the words were, did the President hear me or did the President hear me and refuse to recognize me? At what point must a female senator raise her hand, or her voice, to be recognized over her male colleagues? That was Senator Van DePute, and we're going to hear that today. I'm very pleased to recognize and bring up Representative Ruth Jones McClendon to provide the opening prayer. Ruth served on the city council when I was mayor. We've been dear friends ever since that time. So Ruth, will you please come up and do the opening invocation for us? Thank you so much, Judge. It is an honor to be here. This is so exciting. We're going to teach you with the National Convention in Denver. I was right there with her. I was assisted in. And I'm so proud of my sister, she is, she is, she is, just moving right on, face-by-face with me, Almighty Father, from whom all blessings flow, and will, and freedom, and for opportunities and for our benefits, and enlighten our dear Senator Van DePute, soon to be Lieutenant Governor of the capacity as Lieutenant Governor. We know that none of us are perfect. So my prayer is that you guide each of us, press today, to pray without ceasing, for the strength to recognize all our own mistakes and selfish tendencies so that we can be in a position to stand in, support, and be an honest sounding board for the teacher whenever she needs us. And finally, dear God, please stand with DePute, her beloved husband, with her mother, and this faithful, loving family. But we know that a teacher cannot do this alone, and then prepare, oh Lord, all of us for our own good deeds, and by our own good deeds for an eternal union with you through Christ, oh Lord, amen. I have the postings of the colors by the FW post 76, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Bonnie Eric. I apologize, I'm going to put my back to y'all for a second. Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Please welcome Erica Gonzaba, who will sing the National Anthem for us. There's nothing more important in life than La Familia. And if you look here at Pete and La Tisha's family, and the great, great strength that they built with their children, and Bella, what a wonderful family. And we're pleased today to have the first born, Dr. Nicole Vandepute Stiles, who is practicing at Southwest General Hospital. She will introduce her mother. Please come up, Nicole. Thank you all for coming today. I'm Dr. Nicole Vandepute Stiles, and I knew that you all would come by the hundreds. You know, in fact, I think just the Vandepute family alone could take up this half. But I know her, and we know her as mom. Ever since I was a little girl, during our regular and famous family meetings, our parents instilled in us that if you work hard and you pay attention in class and attend Mass on Sunday, life would be good. Mom constantly reminded us of the importance and value of a good education. Every morning when I would wake up, my mother would look at me and say, Good morning, Mejita. Say good morning to Jesus. And then, either on my way out the door when I was in grade school or sometimes over the phone when I was in college, she would say, Mejita, you were the smartest girl in your class. Learn with all your heart. Learn with all of your mind and have a wonderful day. Her confidence and strong focus on education has helped me become who I am today. A practicing physician of obstetrics and gynecology in San Antonio's beautiful South Side. And I am so proud to have followed my mother's footsteps as a practicing healthcare professional. Our family and our faith were challenged this year through so much personal tragedy. With the strength of our family holding tight and with your warm thoughts and prayers, we have come through stronger than ever and with a newfound resolve. And we are excited about what the future holds for us. The Vanderpute family had one of our famous meetings last week and one that reminded me so much of the others that we had in the years prior. And I couldn't be possibly more excited and thrilled about my mother's decision today. Finalized our meeting at our kitchen table. And that's why I'm so proud to present you to the woman you know as senator, my mama, Leticia Vanderpute. I hear that we're so proud of you. They've called you to go deliver another baby. So, thank you so much. Twenty-two years ago, my husband, he and I sat down with the kids to talk to them about my very first race for the Texas House of Representatives in the district that we're in right here when I first ran for the legislature. This is the house district and it is also the senate district. I have had the opportunity to represent this wonderful college campus where I was a student both in the house and I still do in the senate. And at that family meeting 23 years ago, Nicole's little sister, Isabella, why does mommy want to be a state epazenative? And with the wisdom of a 10-year-old, Nicole said, because there's not enough mommies there. Nicole was exactly right. And Nicole is still exactly right. There aren't enough mommies in Austin at the Capitol. Am I right? I want to introduce the rest of my wonderful family. You've met Nicole and her husband, Jason, are here. And my daughter, Vanessa, my son, Henry, and his beautiful and brilliant wife, are here. Our daughter, Isabella, our little buttercup. And the baby of the family, six foot five, fighting proud Aggie, Paul. Our son, Gregory, and his beautiful wife, Samantha, and my grandkids are still in Austin today. But I do have three nearly perfect grandchildren here. And hopefully they will remain in somewhat of a great manner all this time that we're here. My mom is here, Bellortis. And the man in my heart, my full partner, the guy who has been kind of Mr. Mom, but more than that, so supportive and wonderful. My darling Pete. So have with me brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, and of course Diaz and Primas, and so would all of the San Miguel client please stand up. All of my family, por favor. We're here and you're here because you love Texas. And you love Texas as much as I do. From the celestial views atop the Chinati Mountains in far west Texas to the beautiful east Texas piney woods around Marshall and Longfellow and also that beautiful sense that you get when you're at the Texas coast there is a majestic grand tree just north of Rockport. It's a big tree. It's the biggest in Texas, old majestic oak tree that is stood for more than a thousand years. And to the vast high plains of the Panhandle, to the vibrancy of the Rio Grande and all of the border areas, the border region that stretches over a thousand miles. We love our land. We love our dynamic world class cities. And we love the rich traditions of small town Texas. We love the people who live here. And my love for Texas and for Texans is what led me to public service in the first place. It's the opportunity to work on behalf of Texas families in the state legislature for now almost 23 years. My work in education. My work in putting a stop to the vile crime of human trafficking. Our work to thank our brave veterans in this state as chair of the Texas Senate during affairs and military installations committee. And every time, every time that I can play a role in helping to make life better and a better place to grow up here in Texas, a place that you can raise a family and start a small business, then it's all worth it. It's worth the time that I have spent away from my precious family. But friends, mama's not happy. Not happy with how things have been going lately. Well, my family knows what that means. And if your family's anything like my family, when mama's not happy, ain't nobody happy. No mistake, we're all proud of Texas. But for a long time, the politicians in charge here haven't done much to make Texas a worthy, our pride in it. Texas families have carried the slack on their own. And for years, the governor's been too busy trying to be the president and the lieutenant governor's been too busy trying to get into the U.S. Senate so nobody's been minding the store. Well, we should probably be thankful that they've been too busy trying to move up the political ladder because Lord knows the damage they would have done if they would have actually been working on it and focused on it. Attention to the Republican primary race for lieutenant governor. It gets wackier every day trying to out extremist each other. All four of them chasing the most extreme 5% of the Texans who control the Republican primary elections. And to them, the rest of Texas, it just doesn't exist. And that, my friends, is a problem. To them, the real-life priorities of too many mainstream Texas families simply don't exist. And while they've bickered among themselves, funding for our neighborhood public schools have been cut by the billions. Class sizes have swelled. And too often, we've lost our best teachers. Texas is investing less in our school children than almost any other state. It's by no coincidence that we're the last in the nation in the percentage of adults with a high school diploma. Don't you think Texans deserve better than that? While they bicker, Texas transportation needs remain unmet. They've even talked about taking paved highways and turning them into gravel roads. As if they think that you can grow a 21st century economy on 19th century transportation system. Doesn't Texas deserve better than that? And as they continue their hyper-partisan fights over health care, while they have no real ideas of their own, they turn their backs on Medicaid expansion that would have created jobs and added billions into the Texas economy. And their failure of this means that 65,000 veterans will be left without affordable health care. And it'll cost 200,000 new jobs and billions in new revenue that would have bolstered and flowed right into our Texas economy. Don't you think Texans deserve better than that? Continue to be too afraid of their own primary voters to provide any leadership whatsoever to pass meaningful immigration reform. They've failed to craft a balanced approach that works in the real world. They fail to make sure that the immigration policy maximizes jobs for Texas, helps our economy, creates new consumers for Texas businesses, and fosters a skilled and affordable Texas workforce. Doesn't Texas deserve better than that? And while they wage that war on women, they've got funding and closed clinics that Texas women relied on for the only preventative health care they could afford. Doesn't Texas deserve better than that? Does deserve better. And that, my friends, is why mama ain't happy. We're proud of Texas too, but Texas families deserve better than they've been getting. Texas can do better than this. And that's why that I'll ask the people of Texas to hire me as their next Lieutenant Governor. We're running to be the Lieutenant Governor who doesn't forget about the rest of Texas. The ones who've touched Republican candidates have forgotten as they continue to pat their most extreme voters on the head. I'll be the Lieutenant Governor who won't forget that our neighborhood public schools, I won't forget about them because it's mainly because of the great education that I received in public schools, that I am living my parents' dreams and my grandparents' prayers. I won't be afraid to innovate. And I'll stay laser focused on the fact that if we don't give our teachers the tools to teach, then we can't give our children a world-class education. And then they'll never achieve their world-class dreams. That understands that for Texas family, the best economic development program is a job with good pay. And not a corporate handout to a big company which was just doing fine anyway. I'll be the Lieutenant Governor that ensures that whether or not you get a college education would be determined by how hard you work for it, not by if you and your family can afford it. The Lieutenant Governor that understands that Texas veterans deserve our heartfelt thanks. That's just not on a bumper sticker. I mean, what we are going to make sure of and I am dedicated to each and every day to make sure that every veteran in this state has the ability to find a good paying job and affordable healthcare. We have to thank our veterans. Be the Lieutenant Governor who will make sure and I will fight to make sure that your rights as a citizen of Texas are equal to everyone else's and that your job security isn't determined by who you love but is determined by what you can accomplish. The Lieutenant Governor who fights for meaningful immigration reform. A balanced approach, not a free ride that both secures our border and maximizes jobs for Texans. I want an immigration reform that requires immigrants to pay their taxes but encourages people to come out of the shadows. I'll fight for the kind of balanced approach that creates new consumers, fosters an educated and affordable workforce in Texas for Texas businesses and holds employers accountable for hiring undocumented immigrants. Cannot afford to keep kicking the can down the road just because some Republicans are afraid of their own primary voters. What's the middle class first? You know, the Texas economy is booming for big business. I want to foster that kind of economic growth that makes the Texas economy boom for small businesses and for middle class families. Not just for those that are already on the top and I want to build a strong economy to endure. To be in it for the long haul and the quick fixes in our booming economy if those in charge right now weren't missing opportunity after opportunity then we wouldn't be leaving anybody behind. And I'll be the Lieutenant Governor who understands that you don't have to choose between a strong economy and keeping our air safe enough to breathe and our water safe enough to drink Texans are good enough and smart enough to do both. And I won't let lobbyists and special interests drive the agenda and I won't let reckless corporate polluters do whatever they want. I'll be the Lieutenant Governor who understands that there's a difference between a frivolous unnecessary expense and a wise investment. And I'll keep taxes low and I'll make sure that we don't waste a dime because our families don't have a dime to waste. Republicans are fond of saying we ought to run government like a business and I agree. Smart business people understand there's a time to cut and there's a time to invest but the people in charge now they have forgotten how to invest in our Texas our lack of investment in transportation and water infrastructure our lack of investment in quality public neighborhood schools and world-class colleges and universities is hurting our children it's hindering our economic growth that could be sustainable and it's holding back the workforce necessary for small businesses to prosper and it's harming Texas families and finally I'll be the Lieutenant Governor who understands the fundamental rights and dignity and self-determination and opportunities for women are not just pawns in a political game to ensure that women will never again be treated the way they have been treated by our government lately. $0.27 on the dollar that every man makes and Senator Wendy Davis passed a bill to fix that problem by guaranteeing that Texas women can make the same pay for doing the same work but the current Republican governor listened and pandered to the extremist when he vetoed that bill as Lieutenant Governor I'll make sure that women's voices will truly be heard in shaping these decisions and when I'm Lieutenant Governor I'll fight again to pass that bill so that it can be signed into law by Governor Wendy Davis and a Lieutenant Governor Texas families deserve and that's the kind of Lieutenant Governor that I'm going to be it'll be serious because I cannot do this without your help Dicia Drossa San Miguel Vendiput from the Barrio will never become Lieutenant Governor even though they're going after the Hispanic vote we'll take my word for it since I'm an actual Hispanic you can't successfully fight for the Hispanic vote unless you're willing to fight for Hispanic families do that again because it's real important and that Leticia Rosa San Miguel Vendiput from the Barrio will never become Lieutenant Governor they say they'll look for the Hispanic vote well I'm Hispanic I'm a granddaughter of women who were born in Guadalajara, Jalisco in Musquist, Coahuila I'm Hispanic I assure you get our vote if you're not ready to fight for our families that I've forgotten where I come from because I'm still here for 30 years our family has lived in the same house in the same neighborhood a block and a half from where I grew up it's the same house where Pete and I have raised our six children and it's now a house that has the wonderful and sometimes chaotic noise of a lot of grandchildren it's my grandchildren I have to run it's my grandchildren it's your grandchildren it's the future of Texas I have to run these son mis hijos Proverbs 327 says don't withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to act and that has been what has guided me as a public servant that Proverbs will be what guides me in this race and that's what will guide me as your Lieutenant Governor Lieutenant Governor because mama ain't happy happy because Texas can do better and with your hard work and with God's blessings we will win and Texas families are going to be better for it thank you gracias muchísimas gracias Dios y Texas Dios y Texas muchísimas gracias thank you so much thank you