State Senator Dan Patrick and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will face each other on April 15 in a debate over immigration. The two Texas politicians do not agree on much and immigration has been a large area of disagreement between the two.
The live-stream begins at 6pm Central time.
The debate comes as the Patrick campaign is in the middle of a runoff election for office of Lieutenant Governor. With the election still more than a month away, Patrick’s performance on Tuesday could bolster his campaign against current Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. However, a bad performance against a Democrat who is seen as one of the rising stars of the larger Democratic Party could hurt Patrick with Republican primary voters. Patrick could also be giving ammunition to Leticia Van de Putte, the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor.
For Castro, the stakes are also relatively high. Castro gained nationwide name recognition when he delivered the 2012 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. While Castro is not up for reelection this year, he could seek reelection next year in San Antonio. Castro also faces a future that could see him run for any number of elected positions. The San Antonio Express-News even reports that while Castro is coy about his long range goals, the White House is something he may be eyeing.
Both sides are stoking expectations by promoting the event on social media. A tweet from Julian Castro read: “Ready to debate @DanPatrick on immigration. Dan, be ready to defend your extremist, anti-immigrant record. Own it.”
Dan Patrick sent out a tweet that read: “Tomorrow night Mayor @juliancastro and I will have a thoughtful debate on an important issue: border security.”
According to KFYO-AM‘s Logan Spence, Dan Patrick’s campaign manager said last week that the debate Tuesday night “is just one more opportunity for him to highlight his policies on illegal immigration, one of the top issues on the minds of Republican primary voters.”
The hour-long debate will be streamed online starting at 6pm Central and will have simultaneous translation in Spanish. Univision affiliates in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston will show the debate at 10:20pm Tuesday night. The debate will be moderated by the Texas Tribune’s, Evan Smith.
Chad Hasty is the host of the Chad Hasty Show on KFYO-AM Lubbock. Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadyHastyRadio
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