The Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) held its annual state event, the ATPE Summit, July 9–11, at the Austin Convention Center. As part of our effort to promote political involvement within the education community and informed voting in the November 4 general election, ATPE invited all of the Republican and Democratic nominees for Texas governor and lieutenant governor to speak to the more than 900 educators in attendance at the summit. (ATPE is a non-partisan association and does not endorse candidates.) Both nominees for governor, Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott and Sen. Wendy Davis (D–Fort Worth), accepted our invitation, along with lt. governor nominee Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D–San Antonio). The other nominee for lt. governor, Sen. Dan Patrick (R–Houston), declined our invitation to speak. If you were not at the summit, you now have the opportunity to view the candidates' speeches in their entirety and share them with your friends and family. Each candidate's speech has been split into two parts due to restrictions on the length of videos that can be posted online for public viewing, so be sure to watch both parts. Here are links to the videos:

Attorney General Greg Abbott: Part I; Part II

Sen. Wendy Davis: Part I; Part II

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte: Part I; Part II

We encourage voters to learn where all of the candidates stand on critical education issues and to support pro-public education candidates this election year. Visit our 2014 Races page to search for profiles of all legislative and State Board of Education candidates. On our Take Action: Resources page, you can also view complete profiles of the two nominees for lt. governor; gubernatorial candidate profiles will be added soon.