Óscar Puente

Óscar Puente Santiago (pronounced [ˈoskaɾ ˈpwente]; born 15 November 1968) is a Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) politician who has served as Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility since 2023. He served as a city councillor in Valladolid from 2007 to 2023 and as the city's mayor from 2015 to 2023.

The Most Excellent Óscar Puente
Official portrait, 2023
Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 November 2023
Monarch	Felipe VI
Prime Minister	Pedro Sánchez
Preceded by	Raquel Sánchez Jiménez
Mayor of Valladolid
In office 13 June 2015 – 17 June 2023
Preceded by	Francisco Javier León de la Riva
Succeeded by	Jesús Julio Carnero
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 August 2023
Constituency	Valladolid
Additional positions Spokesman of the Federal Executive of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party In office 18 June 2017 – 17 October 2021 Preceded by Mario Jiménez Díaz Succeeded by Felipe Sicilia President of the Socialist Group in the City Council of Valladolid In office 11 July 2008 – 13 June 2015 Preceded by Soraya Rodríguez Succeeded by Pedro Herrero Councillor in the City Council of Valladolid In office 16 June 2007 – 20 November 2023
Personal details
Born	Óscar Puente Santiago (1968-11-15) 15 November 1968 (age 56) Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain
Political party	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spouse	Laura Soria Velasco
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Valladolid
Occupation	Politician, lawyer
Website	www.oscarpuente.es

Biography

Born in Valladolid, Puente was the son and grandson of socialists. He achieved a master's degree in Political Management in 1992 and a Law degree from the University of Valladolid a year later. After two years of internship, he began practicing law in 1995.^[1]

Active in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1990, he began working for the party as a General Vice Secretary in the provincial executive in 2004, having secretary-general four years earlier. Elected to Valladolid City Council in 2007, he replaced Soraya Rodríguez as party spokesperson in the city hall the following year, and in 2009 became secretary general of the PSOE in the city.^[1]

In September 2010, Puente was endorsed by the PSOE at local and provincial level to be their mayoral candidate in Valladolid in the 2011 Spanish local elections.^[2] In the elections in May, People's Party (PP) incumbent Francisco Javier León de la Riva took a majority and rose from 15 seats to 17, while the PSOE fell from 13 to 9.^[3]

In the 2015 local elections, the PSOE had eight seats, and with the support of the seven seats held by local left-wing parties, they gained the majority to make him mayor and end the 20-year tenure of León de la Riva.^[4]

In a municipal session in June 2018, Puente questioned the management skills of Citizens spokesperson Pilar Vicente by pointing out that she used to be a store assistant at the VallSur shopping centre. Albert Rivera, the national leader of Citizens, considered this to be a classist and male chauvinist insult and called for Puente to resign.^[5] Puente said that he was referring to what he believed to be falsehoods in Vicente's curriculum vitae, and that Rivera had exaggerated the episode.^[6]

In the 2023 local elections, Puente's party took 11 of 27 seats, the same as the PP of Jesús Julio Carnero, though the PSOE received marginally more votes. Carnero was able to form a majority government with the three councillors of Vox, becoming mayor.^[7]

He was Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility during the 2024 Spain floods. A controversial minister for his blunt style of communication, he received substantial praise online for his clear and constant messaging on social media of repair works of destroyed highways and train lines.^[8]

Personal life

He is married to judge Laura Soria Velasco and has two daughters. His daughter Carmen took part on the sixth season of La Voz Kids in 2021, reaching the semi-finals.^[9][10]