Julián Castro has announced his campaign run for the Democratic ticket. So far, he’s one of the leading men in the Democratic race to beat Trump.
Castro was the mayor of San Antonio from 2009-2014 and soon became the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under the Obama Administration from 2014-2017 as the youngest member of the Obama Cabinet.
Castro’s Latino background also provides him with the personal experience of growing up as an ethnic minority in the U.S. After so much racist rhetoric from Trump during his campaign, especially toward Hispanic/Latino immigrants, Castro’s ethnicity and family background is appealing to many who think the U.S. needs someone to close the gap for those who have been defined as “other.”
In recent news, Castro announced he would not be receiving funds from the Political Action Committee. PAC campaigns for their candidates by seeking out the extremely rich to donate to their cause. Often times this is how politicians get sucked into doing the work of the one percent. It’s what makes politics dirty. This tactic was used last year when Democrats ran for the midterms. Other Democratic presidential candidates – Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris – have all said they would run without support from certain PACs.
Nobody can believe Castro will win the presidential race without that financial funding, especially against Trump, someone of the one percent himself. Castro defends his case by stating that anyone can donate to a presidential campaign.
“I think that in this day and age that every mom, dad, grandmother and uncle who wants change has five or ten dollars to give,” Castro said at one of him campaign stops in Iowa.
Castro also supports universal healthcare through the Medicare program, free universal preschool with the beliefs that the youth deserves equal opportunity to get a headstart on education (as seen in previous politics), public investment in renewable energy, and two years of free college for all Americans. Tennesseans are already familiar with the Tennessee Promise, and others are seeing the positive results of it.
Castro’s critics say he’s not quite as Democrat-centri as he should be, especially in terms of two years of free college rather than four. Castro told the Associated Press four years free tuition is preferable and he’s “going to work toward that.”
It seems Castro’s on the right track. Democrats can lean as far left as they want in their political opinions, but with the political tension we have in the U.S. between the parties, taking baby steps to reach these goals is still progress. It’s just practical.
