Ricardo Sanchez To Run For Senate In Texas

We reported previously that retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez was probably going to run for Kay Bailey Hutchison’s soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat, well, now he’s formally announced. Today Sanchez, former U.S. Commander in Iraq, announced that he would be filing papers to run as a Democrat to fill Hutchison’s Senate seat, USA Today reports.

As we wrote previously, Sanchez claims he was forced to retire in 2006 to take the blame for the Abu Ghraib scandal. Nonetheless, he remains probably one of the strongest Democratic senatorial candidates to come from Texas in a long time, and he seems to have the full support of the Democratic machine. As we’ve written previously on News Taco, there are but two Latino senators currently serving in the Senate and they’re both Cuban. Having another Latino serve a heavily Latino state like Texas in the Senate, especially a Mexican-American who grew up impoverished, is sure to be a boon to Latino issues. Sanchez, having been party to national and international issues for many years, would be a good candidate to work on the national level.

Sanchez previously recalled growing up  in the border town of Rio Grande City dependent on social programs. We’ll keep you updated with any development with the Sanchez campaign.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD