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Great Lives from History: Latinos

Julián Castro

by Michael J. Bennett

American politician and lawyer

Castro is the fifth Latino to be elected mayor of San Antonio, Texas. The twin brother of Texas legislator Joaquín Castro, Julián has been called the “post-Hispanic Hispanic politician.”

Areas of achievement: Government and politics; law

Early Life

Julián Castro (hoo-lee-AHN KAHS-troh) and his identical twin brother Joaquín were born on September 16, 1974, in San Antonio, Texas. Julián majored in political science and communications at Stanford University, from which he graduated in 1996; he has said that he began thinking about entering politics while at Stanford. Castro earned his law degree from Harvard University in 2000. His brother graduated from both schools at the same time; Julián told an interviewer that he and Joaquín chose to attend colleges that would admit them both.

Julián Castro.

324_Castro_Julian.jpg

(AP Photo)

They have continued this trend into their professional lives. Both brothers became associate attorneys at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a large corporate law firm with offices worldwide. Both left the firm at the same time to form their own firm. In 2005, they opened the law offices of Julián Castro, PLLC, a personal injury law firm. In one well-publicized case, they successfully represented the victims of a fatal drunken-driving accident, and this case earned them enough money to focus on political careers.

Life’s Work

Castro is the son of Jessie Guzman, a retired teacher, and activist Maria “Rosie” Castro, a leader in the La Raza Unida movement in San Antonio in the 1970’s. La Raza Unida was a third political party that focused solely on the racial and ethnic groups it called “Chicanos.” Unlike most children, he has said that he “grew up with a real ideology.” He has inherited his mother’s leftist leanings, consistently opposing business interests, Christianity in the public sphere, and prolife legislation. Like a large number of his fellow San Antonians, Castro is a Roman Catholic. However, he was the first San Antonio mayor to be grand marshal in the city’s annual gay rights parade. He also is pro-choice on the issue of abortion: “We disagree on this, the pope and I,” he has said.

Castro served on the San Antonio City Council from 2001 to 2005, representing District 7. While on the council, he sought to become a leader in the areas of environmental protection, economic development, and education. Castro was considered the frontrunner in 2005, when he made his first bid to become mayor of San Antonio. His opponents in this election were Phil Hardberger, a retired judge, and Carroll Schubert, a conservative city councilman. Although Castro received a plurality of the vote in the May, 2005, election, he was narrowly defeated by Hardberger in the June, 2005, runoff.

His loss was no doubt affected by a controversy arising from the Texas Cavaliers River Parade in April, 2005. Julián was scheduled to ride on the City Council float, but he attended a candidates’ forum, and he sent his twin brother Joaquín to participate in the parade. His brother, however, was announced to parade goers as Julián Castro. The brothers denied allegations that they intentionally misled the public and blamed the parade announcer for the mistake. However, Julián later admitted that the brothers had pulled similar pranks in the past.

Castro announced he would run for mayor in 2007 if Hardberger chose not to seek a second term. Hardberger sought reelection, so Castro did not run. Also in 2007, Castro married Erica Lira, and the couple had a daughter, Carina Victoria Castro, born March 14, 2009. Castro did enter the 2009 mayor’s race, announcing his candidacy on November 5, 2008. He won the May 9, 2009, election with 56.23 percent of the vote.

He immediately became a favorite of the Barack Obama administration. In December, 2009, Castro visited the White House to attend President Obama’s national forum on jobs and economic growth; he was one of five mayors to attend and, at age thirty-five, was the youngest. Castro returned to the White House in April, 2011, to participate in a strategy session aimed at reviving Obama’s immigration policies.

Significance

Julián Castro has been hailed as an emerging national leader of the Latino bloc of the Democratic Party, in the tradition of politicians Henry G. Cisneros and Bill Richardson. The Los Angeles Times proclaimed him and his brother Joaquín as the “heirs to the Chicano movement.”

Citation Types

Type

Format

MLA 9th

Bennett, Michael J. "Julián Castro." Great Lives from History: Latinos, edited by Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera, Salem Press, 2012. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLL_10013240014501001.

APA 7th

Bennett, M. J. (2012). Julián Castro. In C. Tafolla & M. P. Cotera (Eds.), Great Lives from History: Latinos. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.

CMOS 17th

Bennett, Michael J. "Julián Castro." Edited by Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera. Great Lives from History: Latinos. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2012. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.

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