Julián Castro, secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former mayor of San Antonio, at his HUD office in Washington on Tuesday. (staff/Todd J. Gillman)
WASHINGTON — Here’s another way to keep the Castro twins straight: Julián Castro, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is the one who isn’t endorsing Hillary Clinton — or anyone else — for president in 2016.
Not yet, anyway.
Castro’s brother, freshman Rep. Joaquin Castro, made his support for Clinton clear this week in a fund-raising appeal on behalf of Ready for Hillary, a political action committee run by Clinton supporters.
“There’s no doubt about it: Hillary is the best person to be our 45th president,” the congressman wrote in an email to would-be donors and obtained by Politico. “Hillary’s the leader I want to see moving into the White House in two years.”
In early August, Bill Clinton hosted Secretary Castro at the Clintons’ home in Washington, about a week after Castro joined the Cabinet. The private dinner fueled speculation about his prospects as a potential running mate in 2016 for Hillary Clinton.
Both Castros are viewed as rising Democratic stars in Texas. Secretary Castro delivered a keynote address at the party’s 2012 convention.
But Secretary Castro said Tuesday that he’s staying out of 2016 politics.
“You should talk to Joaquin about that,” he said during an interview in his 10th-floor office at HUD (which, incidentally, comes with the best view of any Cabinet office, overlooking the Potomac River). “In this position, I’m staying out of politics.”
That includes Texas politics. Asked what he’ll do to help state Sen. Wendy Davis in her bid for governor against Attorney General Greg Abbott, Castro reiterated that he’s set aside electioneering.
“In this position I’m focused on my work here at HUD. I’m staying out of politics,” he said.
As for that dinner with the Clintons and some of their inner circle, Castro cautioned against reading much into it in terms of 2016.
“Not at all,” he said. “We had a good conversation about how HUD can work on energy efficiency perhaps with the Clinton Foundation, which we said at the time.”
note: This has been updated from the original post, to reflect that Hillary Clinton was not at the dinner with Bill Clinton and Julian Castro.