Castro announces candidacy for mayoral reelection

Julian Castro ’96 announced today that he would be pursuing re-election as mayor of San Antonio, via a YouTube video.

“Over the last three and a half years you’ve given me the wonderful opportunity to serve as mayor of this city that you and I both love,” he said in his video announcement.

Castro used the video to announce that he would be officially declaring his bid for reelection as mayor of San Antonio on Feb. 2. The city’s mayoral election will take place on May 11.

Castro, who gained national attention this summer with his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, is the mayor of America’s seventh largest city and a rising star within the Democratic Party, in part because of his Latino heritage. His announcement dispelled rumors that he planned to run for governor.

“I’ve said all along that if the voters will have me, I will be mayor of San Antonio until 2017,” Castro said to Fox News Latino in a statement. “I’m announcing my re-election as mayor on Feb. 2.”

Mayoral elections are held every two years in San Antonio and the longest period of time one candidate can hold office for is eight years. Castro was elected in 2009 with 56 percent of the vote, and cruised into re-election in 2011 with a margin of 82 percent.

Castro made news on Sunday when – in an appearance on “Face the Nation” alongside his brother, Rep. Joaquin Castro ’96, and Professor Condoleezza Rice – he claimed that Texas, a reliably “red” state, could soon become a battleground state due to demographic factors and the increasing extremism of the state’s Republican Party.

“In a couple of presidential cycles, on election night, you’ll be announcing we’re calling the 38 electoral votes of Texas for the Democratic nominee for president,” Castro said. “It’s changing.”

“It’s going to become a purple state and then a blue state, because of the demographics, because of the population growth of folks from outside of Texas and because, unfortunately, the Republican Party has gone so far to the right that they’re losing the business community,” he said.

In that same discussion, Castro identified economic stability, education, immigration and gun control as his most critical priorities for San Antonio.