Castro drops out of race for president
Democratic ex-mayor of San Antonio cites low funds, support
Julián Castro ended his groundbreaking presidential candidacy Thursday, acknowledging that his campaign couldn’t attract enough money or voter support to stay in the race — at least this time around.
“With only a month until the Iowa caucuses, and given the circumstances of this campaign season, I have determined that it simply isn’t our time,” the former San Antonio mayor said in a video message to supporters.
“To all who have been inspired by our campaign, especially our young people, keep reaching for your dreams — and keep fighting for what you believe in,” Castro said.
“¡Ganaremos un día!” — “We will win one day!”
Castro’s campaign never caught on nationally. Emblematic of his struggles were his poll numbers in Iowa, whose Feb. 3 caucus is the nation’s first Democratic nominating contest.
Although Castro campaigned in Iowa more than almost any
other candidate, just 1 percent of poll respondents expressed support for him.
But his impact on the rest of the Democratic field was unmistakable. As the only Latino among the major contenders, Castro helped shape the debate on immigration reform, particularly in calling for decriminalization of border crossings, a position many of the other Democratic candidates later adopted.
In August, after a gunman targeted Mexican Americans at a shopping center in El Paso, killing 22 people and injuring 24, Castro said the victims were singled out because “they look like my family.”
“The attack two days ago was an attack on a Latino community, it was an attack on immigrants, it was an attack on Mexicans and Mexican Americans. And that was not an accident. That is in part due to the climate this president has set,” Castro said in a speech in San Diego.
Early in the campaign, Castro emphasized that his candidacy was remarkable given his background. Often on the campaign trail, he recounted how his grandmother crossed the U.S.Mexico border in 1922 and how his single mother raised him and his identical twin brother, Joaquin, now a U.S. congressman from San Antonio.
“I am only here because of two very strong women of color,” Julián Castro said during a May campaign event. “I grew up seeing both the struggles and the promise of two strong women of color.”
But breaking through as a Latino candidate proved a formidable challenge, said Sharon Navarro, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She said many people still think of a U.S. president as a white male.
“That is a difficult stereotype to deconstruct,” she said.
Castro was never able to raise the kind of money needed to run for president, she said. Through September, he had collected just under $8 million, while most of the top contenders had raised $30 million or more.
“Without it, you don’t have a campaign,” she said.
Castro’s message ultimately wasn’t moving the needle in early voting states, particularly Iowa.
“The caucusgoers just had so many other choices,” said Tim Hagle, a University of Iowa political science professor. “With so many choices, candidates really have to show why they are better than the other choice. For whatever reason, Castro wasn’t able to do that.”
In November, the Democratic National Committee bumped Castro from the Democratic debate stage because of his low poll numbers.
Castro, 45, had tried to build a campaign around being a voice for what he called marginalized and vulnerable Americans, including immigrants, the homeless and the disabled.
“We’ve been a little bit different from all the other campaigns,” Castro said. “We’ve been speaking up for the most vulnerable folks in this country: people sleeping in the streets and storm drainage tunnels in Las Vegas, folks who are the victims of police brutality. We’ve been fighting for those who are often left out, cast aside, marginalized.”
Nearly a year ago, Castro announced his campaign at San Antonio’s Plaza Guadalupe with his mother, Rosie, at his side and his brother standing nearby.
“I’m running for president because it’s time for new leadership, because it’s time for new energy and it’s time for a new commitment to make sure that the opportunities that I’ve had are available to every American,” he said during his Jan. 12 announcement.
Although fellow Texan Beto O’Rourke overshadowed Castro during his early months in the campaign, the former San Antonio mayor influenced the race.
He criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont for not embracing a bill to study reparations for slavery, a proposal advanced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston. Castro drew praise from the black community and the Rev. Al Sharpton for injecting the issue into the presidential race.
“I have said many times during the last several weeks that I have long believed that our country will never truly heal until we address the original sin of slavery,” Castro said in an April speech to the National Action Network, a civil rights group founded by Sharpton.
On the trail, Castro was not shy about appealing to supporters of former President Barack Obama. A standard part of his stump speech in Iowa and other early voting states was a reminder that he served as Obama’s secretary of housing and urban development. He was the only former Cabinet-level member of Obama’s administration among the Democratic candidates, until former Vice President Joe Biden entered the race in late April.
Castro often recounted how he was at a Panda Express drivethru in San Antonio when Obama called to offer him the position at HUD.
It happened on April 16, 2014, Castro said in a campaign stop in New York. “I remember the date because it’s not every day that you get a call from the president asking you if you want a job,” he said.
But running in Obama’s shadow became more difficult with Biden in the race. Biden has strong support in Iowa partly because of his association with Obama.
During the first Democratic presidential debate, held in Miami in June, Castro scored national media attention after aggressively battling O’Rourke on the stage over immigration policy. Castro said he would decriminalize border crossings. When O’Rourke said border security was more complicated than that, Castro replied that O’Rourke wasn’t as well-versed on the issue as he should have been.
“If you did your homework on this issue, you would know,” Castro said.
That exchange brought a minisurge in polls and fundraising for Castro.
“A few months ago, they were writing me up as the other Texan,” the former San Antonio mayor told supporters at a rally in Austin in late June. “But that’s no more. I am the Texan in this race.”
In the third Democratic debate, held in Houston in September, Castro’s image took a hit. Many viewers thought he delivered a low blow at Biden over his age.
It happened during an exchange over the two candidates’ health care plans. The dispute centered on whether Biden’s plan would automatically enroll people in public health insurance if they lost private coverage — or whether people would have to opt in. Castro said the opt-in feature meant Biden’s plan would not offer universal coverage. Biden insisted his plan would.
“Are you already forgetting what you said two minutes ago?” Castro asked the former vice president, then 76.
After the debate, Rahm Emanuel, a former Chicago mayor and Obama administration aide, called Castro’s comment “mean and vindictive … a disqualifier.”
Castro denied he was referring to Biden’s age.
Two months later, Castro was knocked off the debate stage entirely. But in December, Castro started registering some of his best national poll numbers. He reached 4 percent in a poll conducted by The Hill and polling firm HarrisX, which put him within a percentage point of both Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a former three-term mayor of New York City.
“We’re building huge momentum at a critical time,” Castro’s campaign said then.
But Castro was still far behind front-runners Biden, Sanders and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Although Castro is leaving the race, his name will remain on the primary ballot in many states, including in Texas.