Julian Castro

Going from the city of San Antonio all the way to the President’s cabinet, Julian Castro is advocating for change one step at a time. Castro was born September 16, 1974, in San Antonio, Texas, and that is where his political career began. 

After Castro gained his bachelor’s degree in political science and his graduate degree from Harvard, he became the youngest member of San Antonio’s city council at twenty-six years old in 2001. He left the city council in hopes of becoming the mayor of San Antonio, and he achieved his goal in 2009. Running under the democratic party label, Castro presided as mayor from 2009 to 2014. Castro gained recognition after his 2012 keynote speech at the National Democratic Convention, as he was the first Hispanic person to deliver this speech. 

Even during his time as mayor, Castro has always been passionate about urban housing, and he served under former President Barack Obama as the secretary for urban housing and development. Castro was also the youngest Hispanic person to ever serve in a President’s cabinet. 

Castro is rooted in his leftist views on various issues, such as the decriminalization of illegal border crossings, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, the right to an abortion, etc. He ran in the presidential election for 2020, and although he was not elected, Castro is still an inspiration to the Latinx community and advocates for their voices to be heard in the political world.