He was a grandson of Aleksander Putra, who served as Sejm Member before World War II from Polish People's Party.

As one of the Deputies of the Senate Marshal he was regarded as a de facto leader of the upper house.

However, he lost soundly to Civic Platform's majority nominee Bronisław Komorowski.

His candidature was viewed as a political demonstration; however, he was elected one of the Vice-Marshals a day later.

He was listed on the flight manifest[1] of the Tupolev Tu-154 of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński which crashed near Smolensk North Airport near Pechersk near Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April 2010, killing all aboard.