Clinton Alludes to Castro as VP Pick in San Antonio

At a campaign stop yesterday in San Antonio, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton responded to the question on many voters’ mind: would she consider Julián Castro as a running mate?

By Rhonda FanningOctober 16, 2015 9:30 am

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was in San Antonio yesterday as part of a rally of “Latinos for Hillary.”

During the event she racked up the endorsement of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and sat down for a Q&A with Javier Palomarez, the head of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

It didn’t take long for the former Mayor of San Antonio’s name to be brought up. Clinton was asked if she’d consider Julián Castro as a possible vice presidential running mate.

Clinton compliment both Castro brothers on their leadership, saying about Julián that she thinks “really highly of him…” and she will “look hard at him for anything, because that’s how good he is.”

Fair enough. It’s early in the season to commit to a running mate – that often doesn’t happen until convention time – but it was just enough of a starting point for us pose the question: among the Democrats, who’s in the running to be number two?

Glenn Thrush, chief political correspondent at POLITICO, says we may be getting ahead of ourselves. Last year Castro took over for Shaun Donovan as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who Thrush says many considered a “powerhouse” and “visionary.”

“The problem with Castro is his youth and relative inexperience,” Thrush says. “To be entirely frank… I don’t think Castro has that reputation.”

Thrush says in previous campaigns – especially in 2008 with Joe Biden and Sarah Palin – we’ve seen that voters are more closely considering who will be number two.

Hear the full interview in the audio player above.