You might be asking, “Julian who?” If you are asking that, I commend you since you probably spend more time enjoying your life and less time watching presidential conventions and remembering random names who were billed as “rising stars.” Julian Castro is one of those “rising stars” in the Democratic Party, introduced nationally at the 2012 convention. He was formerly the mayor of San Antonio and now works in the Obama administration as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Report from The Hill:
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is likely to choose Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Julián Castro or another Hispanic politician to be her running mate, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros said in an interview that will air Sunday.
“What I am hearing in Washington, including from people in Hillary Clinton’s campaign, is that the first person on their lists is Julián Castro, the … Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who use[d] to be the Mayor of San Antonio,” he said in an interview with Univision’s “Al Punto.” [Emphasis added]
“They don’t have a second option, because he is the superior candidate considering his record, personality, demeanor and Latin heritage.”
“I think there is a very high possibility that Hillary Clinton may choose Julián Castro,” he said.”
Castro has followed a political path similar to the one Cisneros traveled in the 1990s. Cisneros served as Mayor of San Antonio and was then HUD secretary under President Bill Clinton.
In other words, Hillary is assuming the GOP will select a nominee of Latino (or Cuban?) heritage, or a vice presidential nominee of the same, or both. In order to blunt the hemorrhage of Latino votes, she’ll pick someone who can articulate her message with similar credentials. All of this reeks of identify politics on both sides but this is where we are in the state of American elections.
So, you heard it here first. Other non-Latino, Democratic vice presidential prospects are presently having the wind knocked out of their sails today. (I’m looking at you Jim Webb and Mark Warner)
