Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julián Castro, 43, who was considered by Hillary Clinton as a prospective running mate in 2016, is clear he wants to run for president in 2020. Castro, who was the mayor of San Antonio, is already testing the waters in New Hampshire, where he will headline the New Hampshire Young Democrats 2018 Granite Slate Awards Dinner.
Castro told NBC News, “I have every interest in running. … Part of the process of figuring out whether I’m going to run is going to listen to folks and feel the temperature” of voters. In 2017 Castro formed the Opportunity First political action committee which was publicly launched it in 2018.
Castro may have to deal with some issues from his past. As Jim Geraghty at National Review reported in 2014, when Barack Obama nominated Castro for HUD Secretary:
Castro’s confirmation hearings are likely to feature questions about the seven-figure payment he received in 2007 for referring a case from his small law firm to “Mikal Watts, a prominent personal injury lawyer and Democratic contributor.” At the time, Castro was a San Antonio city councilman who had run for mayor and lost three years earlier. The following year, Castro loaned his mayoral campaign $215,000 and won. (Watts is currently fighting a lawsuit from BP “accusing him of claiming to represent tens of thousands of ‘phantom’ claimants in litigation concerning the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.”)
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