Mario Lopez welcomes our first Presidential Candidate to the podcast! Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro sits down to discuss everything from growing up with a twin, graduating from Stanford/Harvard Law School, and what sparked his interest in politics to interning in the Clinton White House, serving in Obama's cabinet, and why he's running for President in 2020! Mario even digs into how Secretary Castro's family influences his career decisions, what he thinks of the other candidates, why he wants to decriminalize illegal border crossings, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Another week, another episode of my podcast. Listen to Mario
lt M. Mario Lopez here. And what I love about
this podcast is we talked to people from all walks
of life and points of view. And this week we've
got a presidential Canada joining us. Gonna be sitting down
and chatting with Julian Castro one if I think well,
twenty one presidential candidates running on the Democratic side. Here's
(00:21):
the thing though, no matter what political side, Geron, he's
a pretty impressive guy with an impressive resume, Stanford, Harvard
Law School, former San Antonio City councilman, then went on
to be mayor. He's a twin, was also tapped to
run hard under President Obama. So we're gonna talk about
all that, dig into his background a little bit and
see what made him decided to jump into the race.
(00:44):
So let's get into it. How are you sorry, Terry Castro?
I'm doing great well, although I will say, you know,
this is uh take a good look, because this is
the version of me before the bags under my eyes
and the gray hair takes over my head. How much
sleepy getting these days? I don't know, ranges like I
probably working like uh, you know, some nights I get
(01:05):
seven hours of sleep. Other nights I get, you know,
like four hours. This morning, we had a fairly early
flight that left at six fifty from San Antonio. But
I've taken flights to leave right around five am, you know,
and have a late schedule the night before wherever we're
You can imagine I'm almost living in an airplane these days.
So it's just verries. It does very good with naps. Yeah,
(01:27):
you know, you know how some people can't sleep on planes.
I can sleep on planes. Fortunately, it helps. That helps.
I'm I'm a big fan of naps, and I think
they're extremely underrated. Well, I'm excited to have you join
me here on the podcast. First presidential candidates join us.
We're gonna get to all that in a second, but
first I want to go back. You were actually born
in San Antonio, right, Texas my favorite and I always
(01:47):
say this my favorite city in Texas. I love the people,
I love the town itself, very charming. If anybody hasn't
been there, They've got these rivers that run through in
the river walk, and there's a lot there's so much
culture there and um, it's just really cool. It's quaint.
But but it's a fairly large city. And uh, and
you have a twin brother, you have Troo talking identical
(02:10):
to he. He is standard line because he's in politics too.
He he represents the twentieth Congressional District Texas. But his
name's Joaquin and uh, he goes around telling people that
the way to tell us the part is that I'm
one minute uglier than he. That's a standard line. I'm
actually one minute older than he is. That's funny, that's funny.
How was it growing over the twin It was a
(02:33):
lot of fun. It was like mostly blessing part curse.
The blessing was and people will know this if they
have twins, or if they are twin or they had
siblings or just friends that are twins. It's like you're
a ready made best friend. You know, somebody that is
perfectly made for you. And so, for instance, in high school,
I joke, but it's pretty true that I used to
talk to two or three people a day and one
(02:54):
of them was my brother. Like I, the blessing was,
it was a great you know, he was always my
best friend. A curse was that I didn't feel compelled
to go out there and you know, make a whole
bunch of other friends at that time. And what did
tell me about like growing up? What'd your parents do? Well?
My you know, my parents were together until we were
about eight, and my dad was a school teacher for
(03:15):
thirty one years. He taught mostly high school math, and
my mom worked in the city's personnel department and then
she worked at the housing authority and a community college,
mostly doing human resources. Are you a math so so yeah,
I didn't major in it, man, Yeah, I made it
in political science and communications. So that should tell you something.
Did you did you live with dad, live with mom?
(03:36):
Or just to start split your time, Yeah, we lived
with my mother and my grandmother. And you know, my
grandmother had come from Mexico when she was seven years
old to San Antonio because she and her sister came
in nineteen two because her parents had died and her
closest relatives lived there on the west side of San Antonio,
which was a sort of traditional Mexican American bodio of
San Antonio, San Antonio, that's right, yeah, um, And then
(04:00):
she raised my mom as a single parent, and then
my mom raised us as a single parent, and our
grandmother lived with us the whole time. So you know,
we had uh, almost two moms. Yeah, I know, that's
very common in in our culture, Mike. I grew up
going to my grandmother's house, who had her mom there.
So I had my great grandmother into my twenties believe
(04:22):
it or not, which is which is very rare. And
she used to have a shop. I think I told
you she used to have a shop back in the thirties. Um,
and she was very much a little business woman and
she lost it all during the depression. But long story short,
she had her bedroom with a window there and she
used to sell candy and coke. She converted her closet
into and she was little and she was selling stuff
(04:43):
and all the kids in the neighborhood would go when
they'd buy all this stuff. It's smart. Yeah, it was
so much. There was so much in the community entrepreneurialism.
You know, people would do that, or people would sell
fruit on the side of the road, right, And you
see that here in l A all the time. A
little hardworking community, proud community, you know, a very faithful community. Right. Well,
(05:04):
what sparked your interest in politics, Well, my mom was,
you know, when Joaquin and I were growing up. She
was a hell raiser. She was part of the Old
Chicano movement of the late nineties, sixties and early seventies.
She had been part of the Young Democrats before then,
so she was always very active in different women's empowerment
issues and Hispanic issues. And uh, I guess we sort
(05:26):
of grew up around that, and so I can remember
when we were like nine or ten years old being
taken to speeches and rallies and handing off flyers on
election day. We kind of grew up around it with
this sense that that participating in the democratic process was
a good thing, that you should do it, because a
(05:47):
lot of kids have ided discourage that, especially Yeah, I
just don't want nothing to do with it, especially with
their parents. Sometimes they want to rebel and do the opposite.
But I just think it's so cool that both you
and your brother went to Stanford and then Harvard Law School. Correct,
we did. We did. In fact, we ran for our
the first race that we ever ran in. We ran
(06:09):
against each other for the Stanford Student Senate because they
gave ten voting slots to the top ten vote getters.
Forty three people ran our junior year, and we both
ran uh. And on election night, walking and I tied
for first place with votes. We haven't settled that score yet, man,
(06:29):
we haven't settled the score of who's better yet. Also,
how confusing was that for the voters, right, that's probably
why they tied. Later on, somebody said, somebody said that
they had voted for him and not for me. I mean,
somebody votes voted for me enough for him, or maybe
somebody just hacked the election back then, and it's like
(06:51):
we got tied, right. And and while in school, you
entered at the White House under Bill Clinton, I did
what was I'm a pretty charmed life for Mexican kid
in San Antonio going to Stanford and Harvard now into
the White House. Was it a sort of surreal or
did you just think this is the way things you're
supposed to go? Yeah, it really was, because, you know,
growing up my mother or in her group of activists,
(07:13):
like they were on the outside, you know, I mean,
the generations of people, whether it's Mexican Americans, African Americans
on the outside sort of looking in to the halls
of power. And to be in the White House even
though it was just an intern, right, and I didn't
have any big responsibilities. He felt for the first time,
like wow, actually inside in this hall of power. And
(07:37):
what was that like for you? What was the first
time that I was away from my brother because we
did everything together. Uh, and it was just eye opening,
you know. I mean, probably the most valuable thing was
being in that setting. This was the summer of ninety four.
It was the year that they were doing the the
crime Bill and healthcare. So just getting to watch, yeah,
(07:59):
just getting to watch how people comported themselves then, you know,
and the professionalism and the expectations. That was very valuable.
Later on, you and your brothers started a law firm,
and you also ran for city council in San Antonio
and became the youngest council member in the city's history
six years old. I was twenty six years old, right
(08:21):
out of law school. Uh. You know, we used to
have these super strict term limits in San Antonio. You
can only serve two two year terms, which really sucks,
you know if you think about it, because how do
you get anything done. I mean, you can have term limits,
but you need to make them a little bit longer
than four years, because by the time you get good
at your job, you're gone. But the one silver lining
for people that were coming up was that you could
(08:42):
tell when there was going to be an opening. I
was graduating from Harvard Law School in two thousand and
there was going to be an opening in the neighborhood
I had grown up in in two thousand one, So
it was sort of the perfect timing, and I ran
and I got elected, uh, and then I served four
years there. A city councilman ran for mayor when I
was thirty, trying to become the youngest elected mayor in
(09:04):
the city's history, running against a guy that was seventy
and trying to become the second oldest elected mayor. We
went into a close runoff and uh and he won
an oh five and two thousand five from So that
was my first race for mayor, right, and eventually, uh,
you ended up becoming mayor. I did ye San Antonio. Yeah,
four years later. Four years later look at that. So yeah,
(09:25):
so you were with thirty four so old. So what
do you think your bigges accomplishment as mayor was? My
biggest accomplishment was something called pre k for essay. Right.
So one of the biggest challenges in San Antonio, as
you know, was uh, educational achievement right are compared to
other metro areas, the educational achievement of that city just
lagged behind. And we knew that in this time where
(09:47):
jobs require more skill and more knowledge than every before, like,
if we didn't invest in a big way in education
to try and change that, the city would never prosper
as much as it should. So we got the voters
to do something called pre K for essay was basically
was to raise the sales tax by an eighth of
ascent to uh significantly expand high quality, full day pre
(10:07):
K for four year olds and got the support of
the business community and also of course the education community
and activists there and made made the pitch, you know,
an election night. Over fifty of the voters supported that.
I'm very proud of it because it's been it's being
evaluated every single year, and now the first cohort, the
(10:30):
first group of kids that went through it, starting in
the fall of have taken those third grade tests and
we see that they're doing significantly better than kids that
didn't go through it, and even better than children that
went to some other PreK program. Because we wanted to
be this spectacular PreK program right that's gonna be so
gratifying to see that. And in UH Julian, President Obama
(10:54):
asked you to join his his cabinet as a Secretary
of HUD. What was it like stepping into that job
and is it in? Is it what you expected? I
remember when that happened. Yeah. No, First of all, he
called me on April sixteen. You know, like I remember
that because it's not every day that the president calls
you asked if you want a job, right, I had
just driven through the drive through at Panda Express. You're
(11:17):
you're crunching on ch and like the call, like the
readout said, you know how it says like unknown or
block call it said private? Uh any indication? You know,
He's asked me if I wanted to serve as Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development, And you know, HUD basically
(11:38):
helps invest in housing opportunity for people. And when I
was mayor, that was one of the things that I
had focused on making sure that we invested in UH
neighborhoods and brought back and revitalized areas that had been
ignored for a long time and gave greater housing opportunity.
So I was happy to do it. You know. I
became HUD secretary in the middle of and I served
(12:01):
until the day before the current president took over. What
was the most difficult part of that gig? I think
the most difficult part was just that you really are
in this bureaucracy where things move way too slowly. You
know that is it that commercial with the easy button,
the red easy button. I used to think of the
mayor's office like that. If you wanted something to happen,
(12:22):
you can make it happen pretty quickly. In the federal government,
you know, even when you have the best intentions, even
when you got your act together, there's so much bureaucracy
that it does take longer to get things done. I
mean there's an upside of that, which is once something
is getting done, you can impact the whole nation, right,
many communities, many people. But the most frustrating part was
(12:43):
that it takes longer to get things done. I've always
said that city manager, mayor, those guys have such great
power and they can move it so old school and
sort of throwback. There was any political aspirations later on
I was in you were room to be on the
shortlist as Hillary's VP choice. What what was that legit.
(13:04):
Did you ever have conversations with her about that flattering nonetheless? Yeah,
you know it was. It was a crazy process because
you know, the VP process is unique in American politics.
First of all, most of the time, you're just you're
campaigning for something, right, If you're running for something, you're
trying to get some position in politics, you're out there
(13:26):
asking the people or you know, meeting with small groups whatever.
It's out in the open. The vice presidential process is
so weird because first of all, the person making a
decision is just one person, right, making that selection. Uh,
And you're supposed to pretend like you're not interested and
even deny this ritual of like no, no, no, not me,
(13:50):
I'm not involved. Um, and then they give you, uh this,
they gave me this hundred and twenty nine question questionnaire,
so you gotta take a test, yeah, basically, you know.
Then they vet your finances, they let your personal life,
they vet your your public record. Of course, they had
(14:10):
uh teams of lawyers that were producing binders of information
about each of the people that was being seriously considered,
which in that case was like nine or ten people.
And then at the end, uh, everybody met with Secretary Clinton,
and she was she was wonderful. I mean, she was great.
And they actually did run a very professional, thorough process.
When I say it was weird or crazy, it's not
(14:32):
that anything they did. It's just so unlike the rest
of politics, right, um, but it was sill. It was interesting. Yeah, bad, No,
that's fascinating. And I know you're married. I am, and
you have two kids, all do they My daughter Karina
is ten and my son Cristian is four. Okay, so
guys were on the same same age as me, And
(14:54):
it's got to be incredibly difficult because you're being on
the road and with the time right balancing, you're still
a dad coming. I'm still a And that's actually the
hardest part of it is you know, like on this trip,
I think I'm only gone like three days, but I
had trips where I'm gone seven or eight days in
a row. And you know, that is the hardest part,
especially because with young kids, as you know, and you
(15:15):
turn around and they're a little bit taller, or they're
not into p J masks anymore, they're into Spider Man,
you know, exactly right, But it's so important. I was
just having in that nuclear family and I think that's
where a lot of problems will be. Quite honest, I
think stem Flam is not having that just here in
in America. But how much do your your kids, your
(15:37):
family influenza decisions you make about your own career, Oh
a lot. You know. Before of course, before I decided
to run for president, um, you know, I had to
make sure that my wife, Erica, was okay with that
and really got to eat on my daughter. My son
was still a little bit young. But the good thing
is that Eric and I have been together, um since
(15:58):
before I ever jumped into politics in the first place.
In fact, what you meet her? Uh So, I saw
her on May twentie we were out with mutual friends.
I was not I can't even remember. My wife can't
listen to because I remember in our anniversary, we don't
have to remind him how long he's been married exactly now.
(16:20):
So on May twenty six of this year of two
thousand nineteen, we're gonna mark We're gonna celebrate twenty years
since our first date, which was at you know, the restaurant.
I love that restaurant. Restaurant was our first four hours
always packed with Christmas lights, Christmas lights everywhere, and the
food is amazing. It sounds like a commercial. I really
(16:41):
love it. I love that place. Wow. So what was
she just happened to be there? Oh? No, that was
your date? I'm sorry? Where where do you know when? Uh?
This place called the Fox and Hound, which no longer exists.
I think a bar restaurant. You throw the restaurant me
what I'm trying to get myself cover. Well, Also, I
don't so I wasn't drinking. It really was a restaurant
(17:02):
to me. So, oh you don't drink, okay, don't never have,
or you just give it. Just just didn't pick it up.
I just didn't pick it up. It's funny. I picked
it up for you. You can drink enough for the boat.
There you go, There you go. I managed it though.
Uh waka. Of course your twin brother, who you mentioned,
is a congressman. Are you both in line on most
(17:24):
of your issues? Do you see your issues the same
or do you agree or part of me? Do you disagree? Oh? Yeah,
I mean I think that we have obviously, we have
walked through the world together. We see things very very similarly.
Every now and then we'll have a debate about something
or other. But I can't remember like a big issue
where that was the case. I mean, um, and sometimes
he's dealing with issues as a congressman that really you know,
(17:47):
when I was out secretary of mayor, I wasn't having
to grapple with but but on the big stuff, yeah,
on the big stuff. Yeah, we see stuff the same way.
What made you want to decide to run now? Well,
I mean, you know, I feel like the United States
is ready for a new generation of leadership. Uh. And
I have always felt very, very blessed with the opportunity
(18:09):
that I've had in life to go to the public
schools of the country, UH, to grow up in that
single parent household, and then get to go to college
and a law school, to become the first in my
family to be a professional, and then get to serve
my city and serve the country. And I want to
make sure that in the years to come, no matter
who you are, what neighborhood you live in, what your
background is, that you're also able to reach your dreams
(18:32):
the way that I've been able to reach mine. And
and I have a vision for how we make that possible.
I've been out there saying that I want the United
States to be in the twenty one century the smartest,
the healthiest, the fairest, and the most prosperous nation on earth. Ambitious,
So it is, yeah, what are the issues you believe
we need to be focused on the most A whole
(18:53):
bunch of them. But you know, investing in the ability
of people to to succeed in the twenty century, right,
so we know the jobs require more knowledge and more
skill than ever before. I believe that we need to
do things like invest in universal pre K for three
and four year olds. Of course, we need to continue
to improve K through twelve public education because that's where
the vast majority of students are, and there's still a
(19:14):
lot of schools that are failing our kids and need
real improvement, right, paying teachers what they deserve, reducing class sizes,
making sure that the needs of a student, if they
have special needs, can be met at that school. I
also believe that it's time for us to go beyond
pre K through twelve and really go to those next
(19:34):
few years and make that universal as well. Uh, folks
here in California may remember um that up until the
late nineteen seventies or early eighties, the University of California
system was tuition free. Right in my neck of the
woods of Texas. People will tell you that in the
eighties it was fifty dollars of credit hour per semester
or something like that, so it was almost free. So
(19:58):
the thing is that we're compete being against countries around
the world that are producing these tons and tons of
young people that are bright, they're creative, they're intelligent, they're
hungry and ambitious. In order to compete with that, we
don't have a single person to waste, and so I
want to make bold investments so that everybody can prosper
by making sure they're well educated. I also think we
need a different health care system. You know, my grandmother
(20:21):
grew up with diabetes at type two diabetes, and right
before she passed away, she had one of her feet amputated,
which is you know, it's very common, especially in the
Hispanic community. Um, but she had Medicare. I want to
strengthen Medicare for everybody that has it, and then make
sure that everybody who wants to have it can get it.
(20:42):
If somebody wants to have a private health insurance plan,
I think that's fine also, but I don't believe that
in this country and the wealthiest country on earth, that
anybody should go without health care, without the medication they need,
just because they don't have the means. Uh, my grandmother
the same thing happened exactly too with right before as
the diabetes, and they had to remember tore up my
dad and from one of them, like only times there
(21:05):
were something dad emotional. Um, when that happened. You've said
that you want to decriminalize illegal border crossings. Why did
you say that, because I think a lot of the
problems that we're seeing today, the separation of children from
their mothers, uh, putting kids in cages, this family detention,
the fact that you have people that wait years and
(21:26):
years who were undocumented or seeking asylum for their court
case to be heard right just in Limbo, in the
country for years. A lot of the problems that we
have today they flared up because about fifteen years ago
we started actually treating when somebody comes across the border,
treating that as a criminal violation. It used to be treated, Uh,
(21:49):
it almost always used to be treated as a civil violation,
not a criminal violation. If we were to go back
to that and then invest in an immigration judiciary like
more judges, more support staff to reduce the backlog of
people who are here. If somebody is going to get
their asylum request granted, they can do that. If they're not,
(22:09):
then they get an answer. Same thing if somebody is
here who's undocumented and going through the court process, to
get them an answer as soon as possible. I also
believe in putting the ten to eleven million undocumented immigrants
who are here, as long as they haven't committed a
serious crime, on a path to citizenship because, uh, you know,
the fact is that the vast majority of these folks
(22:31):
are good folks. They're working hard, they're trying to provide
for their families, and I believe that they have a
lot to offer this country. Um. And on that, I've
also said that we had like ninety two thousand people
who came to the southern border last month. Right, the
question becomes, Okay, what are we going to do about
the root cause of the issue. What I've proposed is
(22:52):
basically what I call a century martial plan for Central
America to work with them so that people can find
safety opportunity in in Watemala or on Dudas or Salvador
instead of having to come and knock on the door
of the United States to find safety and opportunity. We
need to be smart about it, to get to the
root of the issue. Yeah, I was a wardhead. I
(23:15):
grew up in right next to behind that too, and
I was always used to having the wall that I
just thought the wall went, there's there's a wall there
on the border. I just through the whole border, the
whole border. I just foolishly thought that. So when everybody
was making a big deal later on, but I was like,
there's always there's always been a wall, I thought, well,
I grew up with a wall right there. Why do well,
(23:38):
why have you been so opposed to have, um the
wall generally just as a symbol and continuing the rest
of the two thousand mile border. Yeah. So, um, we
have six hundred and fifty four miles of fencing, right,
basically fencing In some places it might look more like
a wall, but basically fencing barrier. Yeah, a barrier out
(24:02):
of two thousand miles of border. Right. Um. So my
point is, and we people ask is the border secure?
And I tell them, let's not confuse whether the border
is secure with whether people are trying to come to
our border. Yes, people are trying to come to our border,
but you know they're bringing they're being apprehended when they
(24:22):
do try and come to the border, or they're going
through a port of entry. Right, we have six four
miles of fencing, We have thousands of personnel, We have airplanes, helicopters, guns, boats,
we have security cameras. So I believe that our border
is more secure than it ever has been, and that
we can ensure that we maintain that security. I don't
(24:43):
believe in a wall because I think that the minute
we construct that wall, it's going to change the notion
of who we are as a country from the statue
of liberty that beacons people from around the world to
a country that walls itself off. I would dare say
that there's probably not a single instance of a wall
(25:04):
going down in history as a positive thing. You know,
you think about, uh, whether it's the Berlin Wall or
the Great Wall of China or whatever it is. Well,
it's there, right, but that's still a very conflict ridden area.
You know. I've been to Israel, consider myself a supporter
of Israel, but that's because there's a different type of
(25:24):
conflict there. Right, do the other candidates feel essentially the
same on this issue as well as the way you
see your other because as a as a specter looking back,
I'm trying to I'm seeing the field, and I'm like,
they agree on a lot the same things. So I'm
curious to see how people are going to stand out
(25:46):
in the debates. Am I wrong in thinking that? Or
are you? Am I mistaken of thinking that you don't
agree on a lot of this. I mean, I think
it's fair to say that you're gonna get people that.
Of course you'll have a range right, right, something to
be radicalizing others, And I mean yeah, I mean on
some issues, some people will be more to the left
and others will be a little bit more moderate. And
I don't think anybody on any I don't think there's
(26:07):
any candidate that, if you took all of the issues,
is the one that's most out to the left or
most moderate. People kind of go back and forth depending
on the issue. But I will tell you this, I mean,
so far, I'm the only candidate that's actually put out
an immigration plan. Right, people can agree or disagree with
my vision for immigration that you've done, but hey, look,
I mean this is Donald Trump' signature issue. Right, So
(26:29):
I figured, okay, well, let's let the American people know
what an alternative, positive, compelling vision for immigration policy is that,
of course maintains a secure border, but also instead of
choosing cruelty toward people, chooses compassion toward people. Um. So
we'll see on the issue of immigration, at least where
else people fall When you talk about healthcare, you talk
(26:50):
about education, you talk about jobs and opportunity. Sure, I mean,
you're gonna have a range of ideas, but generally there's
a lot of agreement what you think of the other
candidates on the on on your side that fellow competitors.
We have twenty one now and all right, so there're
twenty other candidates. I've said, like, if I wasn't running, uh,
(27:12):
and I was just a voter in this election, I
would feel like that we have an embarrassment of riches
of talent. You have a lot of talented people who
are running right, people with their own ideas, people with
their own track record, their experience, some people with um
with more experience than others. As I said before, some
people more moderate and some people more to the left.
(27:34):
But yeah, I mean it's a very talented field of people.
It's it's a great time for Democratic voters because they're
gonna have a lot of great choices. Have you had
an opportunity to give thought to who you would like
to see on the ticket with you? Well, I'd love
to see my brother on the ticket, you know, I
could think you can't. That sounds kind of like a
(27:57):
sitcom basically, see, I would, I would. I would like
on days off, I just go off and I get
my brother Phil or you know what I mean, or
the times you need to be in the Middle East,
said my brother. Um, yeah, but no, I mean I
haven't given serious thought to it yet. I figured first
things first, right, and you know, and you have a
nice disposition and come across very friendly will, which I
(28:20):
think votes well when people are looking when it when
it comes to you guys in the debates, Is there
another side I'm not familiar with? Can you get that?
People have this question all the time, And I tell you,
you know, I think the next nominee, right when you're
running against Trump, you're gonna have to stand up to
Donald Trump, which I can do and I think a
lot of people running can do. But I don't think
(28:42):
we're gonna beat him by trying to be him, right,
And so I want to be somebody that offers a strong,
positive vision for the future and speaks directly to voters
into their families about what I would do for them
if I'm elected president. Uh, and to do it without
being nasty towards people. Uh. And yeah, I think that
I think people are looking for that. You know, how
(29:02):
do you think Democrats beat President Trump in by number one?
Trying to be somebody that as a candidate, somebody that
unites people instead of tries to divide them. Somebody that
has a track record of honesty and integrity and public
service instead of the ethical cloud that is hanging over
the White House. Somebody that that is seen as wanting
(29:23):
to be a president for all Americans instead of for
thirty seven percent that he considers his base. And then fundamentally,
somebody that's seen as the future and not the past. Right.
I don't want to make the country anything again. I
want to make the country better than it's ever been
in the years to come. Like me, I know you're
a Catholic. Yes, how important is faith in your life?
(29:47):
And and how does your faith influence your policy proposess?
It's important, you know. I've I've I grew up in
a Catholic household. My mom went to sixteen straight years
of Catholic school. She put my brother and me in
for one year. I have to admit that was enough.
But yeah, I mean, I've made all my sacraments. My wife, Erika,
(30:08):
as Catholic, we got married in the church, and uh
and our little boy, Christian goes to a Catholic learning center. Now, um,
it's important, you know. I mean what what I have
really loved about the Catholic faith the most is this
sense of doing for the least of these, that it
teaches us to do good works like a lot of
(30:31):
faith do. But that was the part of Catholicism that
I have tried to take the heart the most. And
also the sense of community that exists through the church.
I would be lying to you if I said that
I was the most faithful churchgoer on Sundays. I'm not right.
But I do carry with me, um, this strong sense
(30:52):
of faith and um, you know, following the teachings as
I learned them, right, Yes, as an interest structure and
get it. Yeah. Last question, if you become president, what
is the one thing more than anything else you hope
to accomplish. That's you know, that is one of the
hardest questions I've gotten. It asked that a couple of
times before, and really it boils down to, if you
(31:15):
could do one thing, what would it be. And I
would have to say that you'd have to address the
most existential threat to our country in the long term,
which is climate change. Right, if I could do if I,
if I could accomplish one thing, it would be too
squarely put the United States on the path to overcoming
(31:37):
the effects of climate change, because it is very real. Uh,
it is going to have a bad impact on all
of us if we don't take serious action, and we
need to lead again on it. There are many things
that I want to do right. We want to make
sure people have an economic opportunity, good healthcare, uh, good education.
But if you said you can only do one thing, well,
(31:59):
I mean my first priority would be, well, then let's
make sure that we're going to be around in fifty years,
a hundred years. Secretary Castro, it's been great chatting with you.
Good luck on the campaign. Thanks a lot. Maybe I'll
see you come out to San Antonio. Hey, I appreciate it.
I appreciate. Like I said, I always say it's my
favorite time in Texas. You can follow him on Instagram
(32:22):
at Julian Castro Texas. Let me let me spell that
out at j U L I A N C A
S T R O t X. Thanks Aga for st
by the podcast. Thanks a lot, Mario, so don't forget
a new episodes and listen to Mario Dropping every Friday
all on Mario dot com to catch up on the podcast,
(32:42):
and please make sure you follow. Listen to Mario on
I Heart Radio and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever
you get podcasts. More fun next week. Thank you so
much for listening
Another week, another episode of my podcast. Listen to Mario
lt M. Mario Lopez here. And what I love about
this podcast is we talked to people from all walks
of life and points of view. And this week we've
got a presidential Canada joining us. Gonna be sitting down
and chatting with Julian Castro one if I think well,
twenty one presidential candidates running on the Democratic side. Here's
(00:21):
the thing though, no matter what political side, Geron, he's
a pretty impressive guy with an impressive resume, Stanford, Harvard
Law School, former San Antonio City councilman, then went on
to be mayor. He's a twin, was also tapped to
run hard under President Obama. So we're gonna talk about
all that, dig into his background a little bit and
see what made him decided to jump into the race.
(00:44):
So let's get into it. How are you sorry, Terry Castro?
I'm doing great well, although I will say, you know,
this is uh take a good look, because this is
the version of me before the bags under my eyes
and the gray hair takes over my head. How much
sleepy getting these days? I don't know, ranges like I
probably working like uh, you know, some nights I get
(01:05):
seven hours of sleep. Other nights I get, you know,
like four hours. This morning, we had a fairly early
flight that left at six fifty from San Antonio. But
I've taken flights to leave right around five am, you know,
and have a late schedule the night before wherever we're
You can imagine I'm almost living in an airplane these days.
So it's just verries. It does very good with naps. Yeah,
(01:27):
you know, you know how some people can't sleep on planes.
I can sleep on planes. Fortunately, it helps. That helps.
I'm I'm a big fan of naps, and I think
they're extremely underrated. Well, I'm excited to have you join
me here on the podcast. First presidential candidates join us.
We're gonna get to all that in a second, but
first I want to go back. You were actually born
in San Antonio, right, Texas my favorite and I always
(01:47):
say this my favorite city in Texas. I love the people,
I love the town itself, very charming. If anybody hasn't
been there, They've got these rivers that run through in
the river walk, and there's a lot there's so much
culture there and um, it's just really cool. It's quaint.
But but it's a fairly large city. And uh, and
you have a twin brother, you have Troo talking identical
(02:10):
to he. He is standard line because he's in politics too.
He he represents the twentieth Congressional District Texas. But his
name's Joaquin and uh, he goes around telling people that
the way to tell us the part is that I'm
one minute uglier than he. That's a standard line. I'm
actually one minute older than he is. That's funny, that's funny.
How was it growing over the twin It was a
(02:33):
lot of fun. It was like mostly blessing part curse.
The blessing was and people will know this if they
have twins, or if they are twin or they had
siblings or just friends that are twins. It's like you're
a ready made best friend. You know, somebody that is
perfectly made for you. And so, for instance, in high school,
I joke, but it's pretty true that I used to
talk to two or three people a day and one
(02:54):
of them was my brother. Like I, the blessing was,
it was a great you know, he was always my
best friend. A curse was that I didn't feel compelled
to go out there and you know, make a whole
bunch of other friends at that time. And what did
tell me about like growing up? What'd your parents do? Well?
My you know, my parents were together until we were
about eight, and my dad was a school teacher for
(03:15):
thirty one years. He taught mostly high school math, and
my mom worked in the city's personnel department and then
she worked at the housing authority and a community college,
mostly doing human resources. Are you a math so so yeah,
I didn't major in it, man, Yeah, I made it
in political science and communications. So that should tell you something.
Did you did you live with dad, live with mom?
(03:36):
Or just to start split your time, Yeah, we lived
with my mother and my grandmother. And you know, my
grandmother had come from Mexico when she was seven years
old to San Antonio because she and her sister came
in nineteen two because her parents had died and her
closest relatives lived there on the west side of San Antonio,
which was a sort of traditional Mexican American bodio of
San Antonio, San Antonio, that's right, yeah, um, And then
(04:00):
she raised my mom as a single parent, and then
my mom raised us as a single parent, and our
grandmother lived with us the whole time. So you know,
we had uh, almost two moms. Yeah, I know, that's
very common in in our culture, Mike. I grew up
going to my grandmother's house, who had her mom there.
So I had my great grandmother into my twenties believe
(04:22):
it or not, which is which is very rare. And
she used to have a shop. I think I told
you she used to have a shop back in the thirties. Um,
and she was very much a little business woman and
she lost it all during the depression. But long story short,
she had her bedroom with a window there and she
used to sell candy and coke. She converted her closet
into and she was little and she was selling stuff
(04:43):
and all the kids in the neighborhood would go when
they'd buy all this stuff. It's smart. Yeah, it was
so much. There was so much in the community entrepreneurialism.
You know, people would do that, or people would sell
fruit on the side of the road, right, And you
see that here in l A all the time. A
little hardworking community, proud community, you know, a very faithful community. Right. Well,
(05:04):
what sparked your interest in politics, Well, my mom was,
you know, when Joaquin and I were growing up. She
was a hell raiser. She was part of the Old
Chicano movement of the late nineties, sixties and early seventies.
She had been part of the Young Democrats before then,
so she was always very active in different women's empowerment
issues and Hispanic issues. And uh, I guess we sort
(05:26):
of grew up around that, and so I can remember
when we were like nine or ten years old being
taken to speeches and rallies and handing off flyers on
election day. We kind of grew up around it with
this sense that that participating in the democratic process was
a good thing, that you should do it, because a
(05:47):
lot of kids have ided discourage that, especially Yeah, I
just don't want nothing to do with it, especially with
their parents. Sometimes they want to rebel and do the opposite.
But I just think it's so cool that both you
and your brother went to Stanford and then Harvard Law School. Correct,
we did. We did. In fact, we ran for our
the first race that we ever ran in. We ran
(06:09):
against each other for the Stanford Student Senate because they
gave ten voting slots to the top ten vote getters.
Forty three people ran our junior year, and we both
ran uh. And on election night, walking and I tied
for first place with votes. We haven't settled that score yet, man,
(06:29):
we haven't settled the score of who's better yet. Also,
how confusing was that for the voters, right, that's probably
why they tied. Later on, somebody said, somebody said that
they had voted for him and not for me. I mean,
somebody votes voted for me enough for him, or maybe
somebody just hacked the election back then, and it's like
(06:51):
we got tied, right. And and while in school, you
entered at the White House under Bill Clinton, I did
what was I'm a pretty charmed life for Mexican kid
in San Antonio going to Stanford and Harvard now into
the White House. Was it a sort of surreal or
did you just think this is the way things you're
supposed to go? Yeah, it really was, because, you know,
growing up my mother or in her group of activists,
(07:13):
like they were on the outside, you know, I mean,
the generations of people, whether it's Mexican Americans, African Americans
on the outside sort of looking in to the halls
of power. And to be in the White House even
though it was just an intern, right, and I didn't
have any big responsibilities. He felt for the first time,
like wow, actually inside in this hall of power. And
(07:37):
what was that like for you? What was the first
time that I was away from my brother because we
did everything together. Uh, and it was just eye opening,
you know. I mean, probably the most valuable thing was
being in that setting. This was the summer of ninety four.
It was the year that they were doing the the
crime Bill and healthcare. So just getting to watch, yeah,
(07:59):
just getting to watch how people comported themselves then, you know,
and the professionalism and the expectations. That was very valuable.
Later on, you and your brothers started a law firm,
and you also ran for city council in San Antonio
and became the youngest council member in the city's history
six years old. I was twenty six years old, right
(08:21):
out of law school. Uh. You know, we used to
have these super strict term limits in San Antonio. You
can only serve two two year terms, which really sucks,
you know if you think about it, because how do
you get anything done. I mean, you can have term limits,
but you need to make them a little bit longer
than four years, because by the time you get good
at your job, you're gone. But the one silver lining
for people that were coming up was that you could
(08:42):
tell when there was going to be an opening. I
was graduating from Harvard Law School in two thousand and
there was going to be an opening in the neighborhood
I had grown up in in two thousand one, So
it was sort of the perfect timing, and I ran
and I got elected, uh, and then I served four
years there. A city councilman ran for mayor when I
was thirty, trying to become the youngest elected mayor in
(09:04):
the city's history, running against a guy that was seventy
and trying to become the second oldest elected mayor. We
went into a close runoff and uh and he won
an oh five and two thousand five from So that
was my first race for mayor, right, and eventually, uh,
you ended up becoming mayor. I did ye San Antonio. Yeah,
four years later. Four years later look at that. So yeah,
(09:25):
so you were with thirty four so old. So what
do you think your bigges accomplishment as mayor was? My
biggest accomplishment was something called pre k for essay. Right.
So one of the biggest challenges in San Antonio, as
you know, was uh, educational achievement right are compared to
other metro areas, the educational achievement of that city just
lagged behind. And we knew that in this time where
(09:47):
jobs require more skill and more knowledge than every before, like,
if we didn't invest in a big way in education
to try and change that, the city would never prosper
as much as it should. So we got the voters
to do something called pre K for essay was basically
was to raise the sales tax by an eighth of
ascent to uh significantly expand high quality, full day pre
(10:07):
K for four year olds and got the support of
the business community and also of course the education community
and activists there and made made the pitch, you know,
an election night. Over fifty of the voters supported that.
I'm very proud of it because it's been it's being
evaluated every single year, and now the first cohort, the
(10:30):
first group of kids that went through it, starting in
the fall of have taken those third grade tests and
we see that they're doing significantly better than kids that
didn't go through it, and even better than children that
went to some other PreK program. Because we wanted to
be this spectacular PreK program right that's gonna be so
gratifying to see that. And in UH Julian, President Obama
(10:54):
asked you to join his his cabinet as a Secretary
of HUD. What was it like stepping into that job
and is it in? Is it what you expected? I
remember when that happened. Yeah. No, First of all, he
called me on April sixteen. You know, like I remember
that because it's not every day that the president calls
you asked if you want a job, right, I had
just driven through the drive through at Panda Express. You're
(11:17):
you're crunching on ch and like the call, like the
readout said, you know how it says like unknown or
block call it said private? Uh any indication? You know,
He's asked me if I wanted to serve as Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development, And you know, HUD basically
(11:38):
helps invest in housing opportunity for people. And when I
was mayor, that was one of the things that I
had focused on making sure that we invested in UH
neighborhoods and brought back and revitalized areas that had been
ignored for a long time and gave greater housing opportunity.
So I was happy to do it. You know. I
became HUD secretary in the middle of and I served
(12:01):
until the day before the current president took over. What
was the most difficult part of that gig? I think
the most difficult part was just that you really are
in this bureaucracy where things move way too slowly. You
know that is it that commercial with the easy button,
the red easy button. I used to think of the
mayor's office like that. If you wanted something to happen,
(12:22):
you can make it happen pretty quickly. In the federal government,
you know, even when you have the best intentions, even
when you got your act together, there's so much bureaucracy
that it does take longer to get things done. I
mean there's an upside of that, which is once something
is getting done, you can impact the whole nation, right,
many communities, many people. But the most frustrating part was
(12:43):
that it takes longer to get things done. I've always
said that city manager, mayor, those guys have such great
power and they can move it so old school and
sort of throwback. There was any political aspirations later on
I was in you were room to be on the
shortlist as Hillary's VP choice. What what was that legit.
(13:04):
Did you ever have conversations with her about that flattering nonetheless? Yeah,
you know it was. It was a crazy process because
you know, the VP process is unique in American politics.
First of all, most of the time, you're just you're
campaigning for something, right, If you're running for something, you're
trying to get some position in politics, you're out there
(13:26):
asking the people or you know, meeting with small groups whatever.
It's out in the open. The vice presidential process is
so weird because first of all, the person making a
decision is just one person, right, making that selection. Uh,
And you're supposed to pretend like you're not interested and
even deny this ritual of like no, no, no, not me,
(13:50):
I'm not involved. Um, and then they give you, uh this,
they gave me this hundred and twenty nine question questionnaire,
so you gotta take a test, yeah, basically, you know.
Then they vet your finances, they let your personal life,
they vet your your public record. Of course, they had
(14:10):
uh teams of lawyers that were producing binders of information
about each of the people that was being seriously considered,
which in that case was like nine or ten people.
And then at the end, uh, everybody met with Secretary Clinton,
and she was she was wonderful. I mean, she was great.
And they actually did run a very professional, thorough process.
When I say it was weird or crazy, it's not
(14:32):
that anything they did. It's just so unlike the rest
of politics, right, um, but it was sill. It was interesting. Yeah, bad, No,
that's fascinating. And I know you're married. I am, and
you have two kids, all do they My daughter Karina
is ten and my son Cristian is four. Okay, so
guys were on the same same age as me, And
(14:54):
it's got to be incredibly difficult because you're being on
the road and with the time right balancing, you're still
a dad coming. I'm still a And that's actually the
hardest part of it is you know, like on this trip,
I think I'm only gone like three days, but I
had trips where I'm gone seven or eight days in
a row. And you know, that is the hardest part,
especially because with young kids, as you know, and you
(15:15):
turn around and they're a little bit taller, or they're
not into p J masks anymore, they're into Spider Man,
you know, exactly right, But it's so important. I was
just having in that nuclear family and I think that's
where a lot of problems will be. Quite honest, I
think stem Flam is not having that just here in
in America. But how much do your your kids, your
(15:37):
family influenza decisions you make about your own career, Oh
a lot. You know. Before of course, before I decided
to run for president, um, you know, I had to
make sure that my wife, Erica, was okay with that
and really got to eat on my daughter. My son
was still a little bit young. But the good thing
is that Eric and I have been together, um since
(15:58):
before I ever jumped into politics in the first place.
In fact, what you meet her? Uh So, I saw
her on May twentie we were out with mutual friends.
I was not I can't even remember. My wife can't
listen to because I remember in our anniversary, we don't
have to remind him how long he's been married exactly now.
(16:20):
So on May twenty six of this year of two
thousand nineteen, we're gonna mark We're gonna celebrate twenty years
since our first date, which was at you know, the restaurant.
I love that restaurant. Restaurant was our first four hours
always packed with Christmas lights, Christmas lights everywhere, and the
food is amazing. It sounds like a commercial. I really
(16:41):
love it. I love that place. Wow. So what was
she just happened to be there? Oh? No, that was
your date? I'm sorry? Where where do you know when? Uh?
This place called the Fox and Hound, which no longer exists.
I think a bar restaurant. You throw the restaurant me
what I'm trying to get myself cover. Well, Also, I
don't so I wasn't drinking. It really was a restaurant
(17:02):
to me. So, oh you don't drink, okay, don't never have,
or you just give it. Just just didn't pick it up.
I just didn't pick it up. It's funny. I picked
it up for you. You can drink enough for the boat.
There you go, There you go. I managed it though.
Uh waka. Of course your twin brother, who you mentioned,
is a congressman. Are you both in line on most
(17:24):
of your issues? Do you see your issues the same
or do you agree or part of me? Do you disagree? Oh? Yeah,
I mean I think that we have obviously, we have
walked through the world together. We see things very very similarly.
Every now and then we'll have a debate about something
or other. But I can't remember like a big issue
where that was the case. I mean, um, and sometimes
he's dealing with issues as a congressman that really you know,
(17:47):
when I was out secretary of mayor, I wasn't having
to grapple with but but on the big stuff, yeah,
on the big stuff. Yeah, we see stuff the same way.
What made you want to decide to run now? Well,
I mean, you know, I feel like the United States
is ready for a new generation of leadership. Uh. And
I have always felt very, very blessed with the opportunity
(18:09):
that I've had in life to go to the public
schools of the country, UH, to grow up in that
single parent household, and then get to go to college
and a law school, to become the first in my
family to be a professional, and then get to serve
my city and serve the country. And I want to
make sure that in the years to come, no matter
who you are, what neighborhood you live in, what your
background is, that you're also able to reach your dreams
(18:32):
the way that I've been able to reach mine. And
and I have a vision for how we make that possible.
I've been out there saying that I want the United
States to be in the twenty one century the smartest,
the healthiest, the fairest, and the most prosperous nation on earth. Ambitious,
So it is, yeah, what are the issues you believe
we need to be focused on the most A whole
(18:53):
bunch of them. But you know, investing in the ability
of people to to succeed in the twenty century, right,
so we know the jobs require more knowledge and more
skill than ever before. I believe that we need to
do things like invest in universal pre K for three
and four year olds. Of course, we need to continue
to improve K through twelve public education because that's where
the vast majority of students are, and there's still a
(19:14):
lot of schools that are failing our kids and need
real improvement, right, paying teachers what they deserve, reducing class sizes,
making sure that the needs of a student, if they
have special needs, can be met at that school. I
also believe that it's time for us to go beyond
pre K through twelve and really go to those next
(19:34):
few years and make that universal as well. Uh, folks
here in California may remember um that up until the
late nineteen seventies or early eighties, the University of California
system was tuition free. Right in my neck of the
woods of Texas. People will tell you that in the
eighties it was fifty dollars of credit hour per semester
or something like that, so it was almost free. So
(19:58):
the thing is that we're compete being against countries around
the world that are producing these tons and tons of
young people that are bright, they're creative, they're intelligent, they're
hungry and ambitious. In order to compete with that, we
don't have a single person to waste, and so I
want to make bold investments so that everybody can prosper
by making sure they're well educated. I also think we
need a different health care system. You know, my grandmother
(20:21):
grew up with diabetes at type two diabetes, and right
before she passed away, she had one of her feet amputated,
which is you know, it's very common, especially in the
Hispanic community. Um, but she had Medicare. I want to
strengthen Medicare for everybody that has it, and then make
sure that everybody who wants to have it can get it.
(20:42):
If somebody wants to have a private health insurance plan,
I think that's fine also, but I don't believe that
in this country and the wealthiest country on earth, that
anybody should go without health care, without the medication they need,
just because they don't have the means. Uh, my grandmother
the same thing happened exactly too with right before as
the diabetes, and they had to remember tore up my
dad and from one of them, like only times there
(21:05):
were something dad emotional. Um, when that happened. You've said
that you want to decriminalize illegal border crossings. Why did
you say that, because I think a lot of the
problems that we're seeing today, the separation of children from
their mothers, uh, putting kids in cages, this family detention,
the fact that you have people that wait years and
(21:26):
years who were undocumented or seeking asylum for their court
case to be heard right just in Limbo, in the
country for years. A lot of the problems that we
have today they flared up because about fifteen years ago
we started actually treating when somebody comes across the border,
treating that as a criminal violation. It used to be treated, Uh,
(21:49):
it almost always used to be treated as a civil violation,
not a criminal violation. If we were to go back
to that and then invest in an immigration judiciary like
more judges, more support staff to reduce the backlog of
people who are here. If somebody is going to get
their asylum request granted, they can do that. If they're not,
(22:09):
then they get an answer. Same thing if somebody is
here who's undocumented and going through the court process, to
get them an answer as soon as possible. I also
believe in putting the ten to eleven million undocumented immigrants
who are here, as long as they haven't committed a
serious crime, on a path to citizenship because, uh, you know,
the fact is that the vast majority of these folks
(22:31):
are good folks. They're working hard, they're trying to provide
for their families, and I believe that they have a
lot to offer this country. Um. And on that, I've
also said that we had like ninety two thousand people
who came to the southern border last month. Right, the
question becomes, Okay, what are we going to do about
the root cause of the issue. What I've proposed is
(22:52):
basically what I call a century martial plan for Central
America to work with them so that people can find
safety opportunity in in Watemala or on Dudas or Salvador
instead of having to come and knock on the door
of the United States to find safety and opportunity. We
need to be smart about it, to get to the
root of the issue. Yeah, I was a wardhead. I
(23:15):
grew up in right next to behind that too, and
I was always used to having the wall that I
just thought the wall went, there's there's a wall there
on the border. I just through the whole border, the
whole border. I just foolishly thought that. So when everybody
was making a big deal later on, but I was like,
there's always there's always been a wall, I thought, well,
I grew up with a wall right there. Why do well,
(23:38):
why have you been so opposed to have, um the
wall generally just as a symbol and continuing the rest
of the two thousand mile border. Yeah. So, um, we
have six hundred and fifty four miles of fencing, right,
basically fencing In some places it might look more like
a wall, but basically fencing barrier. Yeah, a barrier out
(24:02):
of two thousand miles of border. Right. Um. So my
point is, and we people ask is the border secure?
And I tell them, let's not confuse whether the border
is secure with whether people are trying to come to
our border. Yes, people are trying to come to our border,
but you know they're bringing they're being apprehended when they
(24:22):
do try and come to the border, or they're going
through a port of entry. Right, we have six four
miles of fencing, We have thousands of personnel, We have airplanes, helicopters, guns, boats,
we have security cameras. So I believe that our border
is more secure than it ever has been, and that
we can ensure that we maintain that security. I don't
(24:43):
believe in a wall because I think that the minute
we construct that wall, it's going to change the notion
of who we are as a country from the statue
of liberty that beacons people from around the world to
a country that walls itself off. I would dare say
that there's probably not a single instance of a wall
(25:04):
going down in history as a positive thing. You know,
you think about, uh, whether it's the Berlin Wall or
the Great Wall of China or whatever it is. Well,
it's there, right, but that's still a very conflict ridden area.
You know. I've been to Israel, consider myself a supporter
of Israel, but that's because there's a different type of
(25:24):
conflict there. Right, do the other candidates feel essentially the
same on this issue as well as the way you
see your other because as a as a specter looking back,
I'm trying to I'm seeing the field, and I'm like,
they agree on a lot the same things. So I'm
curious to see how people are going to stand out
(25:46):
in the debates. Am I wrong in thinking that? Or
are you? Am I mistaken of thinking that you don't
agree on a lot of this. I mean, I think
it's fair to say that you're gonna get people that.
Of course you'll have a range right, right, something to
be radicalizing others, And I mean yeah, I mean on
some issues, some people will be more to the left
and others will be a little bit more moderate. And
I don't think anybody on any I don't think there's
(26:07):
any candidate that, if you took all of the issues,
is the one that's most out to the left or
most moderate. People kind of go back and forth depending
on the issue. But I will tell you this, I mean,
so far, I'm the only candidate that's actually put out
an immigration plan. Right, people can agree or disagree with
my vision for immigration that you've done, but hey, look,
I mean this is Donald Trump' signature issue. Right, So
(26:29):
I figured, okay, well, let's let the American people know
what an alternative, positive, compelling vision for immigration policy is that,
of course maintains a secure border, but also instead of
choosing cruelty toward people, chooses compassion toward people. Um. So
we'll see on the issue of immigration, at least where
else people fall When you talk about healthcare, you talk
(26:50):
about education, you talk about jobs and opportunity. Sure, I mean,
you're gonna have a range of ideas, but generally there's
a lot of agreement what you think of the other
candidates on the on on your side that fellow competitors.
We have twenty one now and all right, so there're
twenty other candidates. I've said, like, if I wasn't running, uh,
(27:12):
and I was just a voter in this election, I
would feel like that we have an embarrassment of riches
of talent. You have a lot of talented people who
are running right, people with their own ideas, people with
their own track record, their experience, some people with um
with more experience than others. As I said before, some
people more moderate and some people more to the left.
(27:34):
But yeah, I mean it's a very talented field of people.
It's it's a great time for Democratic voters because they're
gonna have a lot of great choices. Have you had
an opportunity to give thought to who you would like
to see on the ticket with you? Well, I'd love
to see my brother on the ticket, you know, I
could think you can't. That sounds kind of like a
(27:57):
sitcom basically, see, I would, I would. I would like
on days off, I just go off and I get
my brother Phil or you know what I mean, or
the times you need to be in the Middle East,
said my brother. Um, yeah, but no, I mean I
haven't given serious thought to it yet. I figured first
things first, right, and you know, and you have a
nice disposition and come across very friendly will, which I
(28:20):
think votes well when people are looking when it when
it comes to you guys in the debates, Is there
another side I'm not familiar with? Can you get that?
People have this question all the time, And I tell you,
you know, I think the next nominee, right when you're
running against Trump, you're gonna have to stand up to
Donald Trump, which I can do and I think a
lot of people running can do. But I don't think
(28:42):
we're gonna beat him by trying to be him, right,
And so I want to be somebody that offers a strong,
positive vision for the future and speaks directly to voters
into their families about what I would do for them
if I'm elected president. Uh, and to do it without
being nasty towards people. Uh. And yeah, I think that
I think people are looking for that. You know, how
(29:02):
do you think Democrats beat President Trump in by number one?
Trying to be somebody that as a candidate, somebody that
unites people instead of tries to divide them. Somebody that
has a track record of honesty and integrity and public
service instead of the ethical cloud that is hanging over
the White House. Somebody that that is seen as wanting
(29:23):
to be a president for all Americans instead of for
thirty seven percent that he considers his base. And then fundamentally,
somebody that's seen as the future and not the past. Right.
I don't want to make the country anything again. I
want to make the country better than it's ever been
in the years to come. Like me, I know you're
a Catholic. Yes, how important is faith in your life?
(29:47):
And and how does your faith influence your policy proposess?
It's important, you know. I've I've I grew up in
a Catholic household. My mom went to sixteen straight years
of Catholic school. She put my brother and me in
for one year. I have to admit that was enough.
But yeah, I mean, I've made all my sacraments. My wife, Erika,
(30:08):
as Catholic, we got married in the church, and uh
and our little boy, Christian goes to a Catholic learning center. Now, um,
it's important, you know. I mean what what I have
really loved about the Catholic faith the most is this
sense of doing for the least of these, that it
teaches us to do good works like a lot of
(30:31):
faith do. But that was the part of Catholicism that
I have tried to take the heart the most. And
also the sense of community that exists through the church.
I would be lying to you if I said that
I was the most faithful churchgoer on Sundays. I'm not right.
But I do carry with me, um, this strong sense
(30:52):
of faith and um, you know, following the teachings as
I learned them, right, Yes, as an interest structure and
get it. Yeah. Last question, if you become president, what
is the one thing more than anything else you hope
to accomplish. That's you know, that is one of the
hardest questions I've gotten. It asked that a couple of
times before, and really it boils down to, if you
(31:15):
could do one thing, what would it be. And I
would have to say that you'd have to address the
most existential threat to our country in the long term,
which is climate change. Right, if I could do if I,
if I could accomplish one thing, it would be too
squarely put the United States on the path to overcoming
(31:37):
the effects of climate change, because it is very real. Uh,
it is going to have a bad impact on all
of us if we don't take serious action, and we
need to lead again on it. There are many things
that I want to do right. We want to make
sure people have an economic opportunity, good healthcare, uh, good education.
But if you said you can only do one thing, well,
(31:59):
I mean my first priority would be, well, then let's
make sure that we're going to be around in fifty years,
a hundred years. Secretary Castro, it's been great chatting with you.
Good luck on the campaign. Thanks a lot. Maybe I'll
see you come out to San Antonio. Hey, I appreciate it.
I appreciate. Like I said, I always say it's my
favorite time in Texas. You can follow him on Instagram
(32:22):
at Julian Castro Texas. Let me let me spell that
out at j U L I A N C A
S T R O t X. Thanks Aga for st
by the podcast. Thanks a lot, Mario, so don't forget
a new episodes and listen to Mario Dropping every Friday
all on Mario dot com to catch up on the podcast,
(32:42):
and please make sure you follow. Listen to Mario on
I Heart Radio and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever
you get podcasts. More fun next week. Thank you so
much for listening
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