• Campaign Press Release     • RNC

Julián for the Future
For Immediate Release: Saturday, January 12, 2019

Contact: Jennifer Fiore  
 

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro Announces 2020 Presidential Campaign

Initial Campaign Leadership and Travel Schedule Announced

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS (January 12, 2019) — Today, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and San Antonio Mayor, Julián Castro, announced his candidacy for President of the United States, Julián for the Future, with the campaign slogan “One Nation. One Destiny.”
Secretary Castro made his announcement in his hometown neighborhood, the westside of San Antonio, Texas, surrounded by family and supporters in Plaza Guadalupe, near the church where he was baptized, and the schools he attended as a child.
 
Secretary Castro rode the number 68 San Antonio public bus to the plaza, and livestreamed the ride from his Facebook page. This is the same bus he and his twin brother, Congressman Joaquin Castro rode to school as children.
 
Secretary Castro was introduced by his mother, Ms. Rosie Castro, a noted political activist. He was also joined on stage by his wife, Erica Lira Castro, and their children, Carina, age 9, and Christián, age 4.
 
Announcing his candidacy, Secretary Castro made remarks in both English and Spanish:
 
“When my grandmother got here almost a hundred years ago, I’m sure she never could have imagined that just two generations later, one of her grandsons would be serving as a member of the United States Congress and the other would be standing with you here today to say these words: I am a candidate for President of the United States of America.”
 
“Cuando mi abuela llegó aquí, hace ya casi cien años, estoy seguro de que nunca se imaginó que solo dos generaciones después, uno de sus nietos formaría parte del Congreso de los Estados Unidos, y que el otro estaría ante ustedes hoy diciendo las siguientes palabras: Yo soy candidato para Presidente de los Estados Unidos.”
 
The campaign also announced senior leadership and staff, and the initial travel schedule. The senior staff reflects Secretary Castro’s longstanding commitment to fostering emerging progressive leaders. The team will be innovative, nimble and dedicated to a diversity of experience, background and identity.
 
Secretary Castro’s first trip as a candidate will be to Puerto Rico, where he will deliver an address to the Latino Victory Fund and visit local residents still struggling with ongoing hurricane recovery efforts, American citizens the federal government has abandoned. He then returns to New Hampshire for the legendary Politics & Eggs program on January 16, 2019.
 
Campaign leadership:
Rep. Joaquin Castro, Campaign Chairman
Congressman Joaquin Castro, representing the 20th Congressional District in Texas, is the twin brother of Secretary Julián Castro and was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. Congressman Castro is the Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and serves on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Foreign Affairs Committee.
 
Maya Rupert, Campaign Manager
Maya Rupert is the former Executive Director of Secretary Castro’s Opportunity First organization supporting young, progressive candidates for elected office. She previously served with Secretary Castro at the Department of Housing and Urban Development as a senior advisor. Ms. Rupert has an extensive background in leading progressive organizations including working for the Center for Reproductive Rights as Senior Director for Policy and the Policy Director at the National Center for
Lesbian Rights.
 
Derek Eadon, Deputy Campaign Manager
Derek is an Obama campaign alumni, serving as one of the first organizers in Iowa and then as part of the 2008 general election. Following the successful 2008 campaign, Mr. Eadon went on to serve as Organizing For America’s (OFA) state Director in 2009, and led efforts in Iowa as the
General Election Campaign Director in 2012. Mr. Eadon has advised a wide variety of campaigns and organizations across the country as a campaign and digital strategist. These included Run for Something, Hillary for America, NextGen Climate Action, Ready for Hillary, Make It Work, Every Child Matters, the Truth Initiative, various clean energy advocacy organizations, court reform advocates, and National Attorneys General Association. Mr. Eadon began his career with the Iowa
Democratic Party in 2006, served as Coordinated Campaign Director for the party in 2010, and was elected the youngest ever chair of the IDP in 2017, also serving as a DNC member.
 
Jennifer Fiore, Senior Advisor for Communications and Digital
Jennifer Fiore most recently served as a senior advisor to Secretary Castro’s Opportunity First organization, and prior to that was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under Secretary Castro. Ms. Fiore is the former
executive director of Campaign to Unload, a coalition of organizations working on gun industry divestment, and the Vice President for Digital Strategy at West End Strategy Team.
 
Scott Atlas, Finance Chairman
Scott Atlas, a Texas native and Houston-based lawyer and legal consultant, will serve as the campaign’s Finance Chairman. Mr. Atlas brings with him considerable experience in both Texas statewide and national campaigns, including as the Harris County coordinator for both U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s reelection campaign in 1988, and the Dukakis/Bentsen ticket. In 2010, Mr. Atlas served as the Finance Chairman for Bill White’s Texas gubernatorial campaign, which, at the
time, raised more money than any Texas Democrat in history. Most recently, Mr. Atlas chaired the University of Texas School of Law Endowment for Excellence, a student scholarship campaign that raised more than $43.5MM.
 
Tentative travel schedule
Sunday, January 13, 2019
San Antonio, TX to San Juan, Puerto Rico
 
Monday, January 14, 2019

Tuesday, January 15, 2019
New Hampshire
 
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
“Politics and Eggs” at St. Anselm’s Institute of Politics
 
About Secretary Julián Castro
Julián Castro served as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama from 2014-2017. Before that, he was Mayor of his native San Antonio, Texas — the youngest mayor of a Top 50 American city at the time. In 2012, he gave a rousing keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, during which he described the American Dream as a relay to be passed from generation to generation. In 2018, Castro founded Opportunity First, an organization to invest in the next generation of progressive leaders. In October 2018, Little, Brown
published Castro’s memoir, An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up from My American Dream. Follow Julián Castro on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. JulianfortheFuture.com and Julianparaelfuturo.com

“Julián Castro has made history by becoming one of the biggest lightweights to ever run for president. He was a weak mayor who couldn’t even handle being HUD secretary. This is obviously just another desperate attempt to become someone else’s running mate.” – RNC Spokesman Michael Ahrens

No Democrat is a match for the record number of accomplishments under President Trump, but here’s just some of what you need to know about Castro: