The first message of the socialist pre-campaign was told with a kiss. On October 17, Pedro Sánchez and Begoña Gómez kissed in front of the attendees at the PSOE Federal Committee in Fuenlabrada. "I love you", the President of the Government told her. The party disseminated the scene on X with a phrase that summarized the tone with which it wanted to reach November 29: "The strength of love." In that act, Sánchez called for raising a "progressive wave" for the general elections.
Óscar Puente was one of the leaders who picked up that message. Two days later, at an event in Valladolid, the then Minister of Transport presented the PSOE as "the party of love". The pre-campaign changed its tone after the collision of two trains in Urda (Toledo), which left 69 dead. On November 3, six days after the accident, Puente announced at the end of his appearance before the Permanent Deputation of the Congress that he was leaving the Ministry and renouncing to run on the socialist lists.
La fuerza que puede con todo. 🌹❤️ https://t.co/YSe6wBapmt
— PSOE (@PSOE) October 17, 2026
"Not all of us are the same"
Sánchez's response arrived that same night. "Óscar Puente has shown his face, offered solutions, and then stepped aside," he wrote on X. The president attributed the decision to respect for the victims and the minister's own will, and left the phrase that the party would eventually adopt: "Politicians like him dignify our country and show us that not all of us are the same."
Patxi López brought that same idea into comparison with the PP. The socialist spokesperson in Congress stated that, after the Urda crash, Puente "did not get distracted, did not disappear, nor was he at the 'Ventorro'", in allusion to Carlos Mazón and his actions during the DANA in Valencia. López had already praised in the Permanent Deputation the way the minister announced his departure and, the next day, insisted that his decision showed that "not all of us are the same."
The general secretary of the PSdeG, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, also resorted to "not all of us are the same" when comparing Puente's resignation with the PP's actions after the Angrois accident. Ferraz went a step further and turned the phrase into the title of a text published in El Socialista, the party's official media outlet. What began as a farewell from Sánchez thus became an argument that the PSOE brought to the pre-campaign debate.
The possible effect at the polls
The kiss of Fuenlabrada sought to awaken enthusiasm; the "not all of us are the same" now appeals to trust. This is the turn of the socialist pre-campaign that will presumably include the new slogan in their events. Puente's resignation can help the PSOE mobilize a part of the left if its voters see in it a form of accountability.
The PP has already put forward that second reading: it attributes Puente's departure to electoral calculation and now places the focus on Sánchez. And for the victims' families, the fundamental question remains pending: what happened in Urda and what will be done to prevent it from happening again. The resignation has a political scope, but the causes of the crash and the responsibilities that may arise from it are still subject to investigation.
Fuenlabrada's kiss sought to awaken enthusiasm; the "we are not all the same" now appeals to trust. There lies the turn of the socialist pre-campaign. Puente's resignation may help the PSOE mobilize a part of the left if its voters see in it a way of accountability. That the party has found a phrase to defend it says how it wants to reach November 29.
