I don’t think he’s being considered to deliver Texas. That’s damn near impossible. More likely heavy Hispanic votes in other parts of the country.
Quick question- if NOT Julian Castro, what other up and coming Hispanic politicians are there?
Seems to me the Democrats have been talking up Castro a long time, NOT so much because of anything he’s accomplished but because they feel they HAVE to appeal to the growing Hispanic vote, but don’t have many impressive Hispanic candidates to choose from.
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti (half Hispanic, half Jewish, I think); members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (or the younger ones, at least); San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo (I think he’s Hispanic), as a start. I doubt the two mayors would be VP picks, but one of the Hispanic Congressmen might be.
Well, at least one more than the Pubs have got.
More to the point, in any universe where the Democrats win Texas, they’ve also got a strong enough gain nationwide that they would have won easily without Texas.
You appeal to the growing Hispanic vote by elevating Hispanic candidates and having them run statewide. Same with other minorities. The Republicans have actually done better at electing minorities statewide. The Democrats keep on putting white candidates up for statewide elections and limit minority candidates to favorable districts for the most part(they’ve been better lately with African-Americans, but still pretty crappy with Asians and Latinos).
In a state with a big Latino population. who were Brian Sandoval’s opponents? Harry Reid’s kid and some dude named Bob Goodman.
In New Mexico, Susana Martinez faced Diane Denish, also a white candidate.
In South Carolina, Nikki Haley went up against, you guessed it, another white dude, Vincent Shaheen.
In Louisiana, Bobby Jindal beat John Georges, white dude.
In Florida, Marco Rubio did face a black Democrat, but the party had so little confidence in him that they bet on Charlie Crist, white dude. It never even occurred to the Democrats to run a Latino statewide. In Florida.
You do not appeal to Latinos by reaching for a guy who will never win a statewide election and giving him a constitutionally almost meaningless position.
I agree that boosting diverse candidates is a positive thing, but based on actual voting and polling, the Democratic party is doing a far better job than Republicans of appealing to Hispanics. Far more important than having diverse candidates is, you know, not saying and advocating for racist and anti-immigrant things.
No doubt. But I think that minority activists are certainly right when they accuse Democrats of taking their votes for granted. Republicans are willing to take chances on minority candidates. Democrats just aren’t unless they have the X factor or the conditions seem just right. Heck, we’ll happily throw minority candidates at winnable but close races, something Democrats almost NEVER do. The only way for a minority to get a statewide nomination in the Democratic Party is if the party is 99% certain of victory.
But Julian Castro just reeks of an AA pick. We needed a Latino and he’s good looking is about all he’s got going for him.
I don’t buy your analysis of the candidate picking (though it’s certainly true that the party often seems to take minority votes for granted) – the Democrats happily put forward minority and female candidates, and often get them elected… the Republicans rarely do, and rarely get them elected. In recent years, the Democrats have a much better track record on this.
If you include women, sure. Minorities though? No. Currently there are more minority Republicans in the Senate and more minority Republican governors.
There are very, very few minorities in the Senate, and if you go back over recent decades, the Democrats are a lot better – if you include the House too, then they’re even better, and way better in the present Congress. Not sure about governors, but I’d bet on the Democrats in recent decades.
EDIT: I think you’re wrong about the Senate, though – I count 3 minority Democratic Senators, and 3 minority Republican Senators right now (if Rubio and Cruz count, then so does Menendez).
The House doesn’t count, because it’s almost entirely minorities representing overwhelmingly minority districts. That’s not elevating anyone, and there are a lot of Democrats that would love to get rid of racial gerrymandering to make it easier to win the House. And they wouldn’t be running minority candidates in those majority white districts.
Sure the House counts! That’s ridiculous. And, I counted again – you’re wrong about the Senate. Right now, each party has 3 minority Senators, and in the last several decades, the Democrats elected many more minority Senators than the Republicans.
The minority HOuse members are in dead end jobs for the most part, representing minority voters. Even when Democrats do pull a minority candidate for statewide election, it’s very rarely a minority HOuse member(white House members are regularly tapped for statewide runs).
And yet they have had many more minority Senators in recent decades…
Just counted governors too – since the 80s, the Democrats have elected several more minority state governors than the Republicans have.
adaher, you’ve really got to stop saying things as if they’re true without checking them. Fact check yourself!
I was referring to how things are right now. Minority Republicans winning statewide has been something of a growth industry for Republicans in recent years, while Democrats have at best stagnated. Especially with Latinos. We’ve got two who not only won statewide, but are running for President. You’ve got: Julian Castro.
BTW, if you guys were actually serious, you’d nominate Bob Menendez for VP, but he’s not agreeable enough I guess. Only thing worse than having to support minority candidates statewide is them having their own views I guess.
Why on earth would we nominate an old, crotchety Senator who has no chance of ever appealing nationally as a Presidential candidate? The smart pick for the party, for an older and experienced Presidential candidate, is a young future President – Menendez is not a young, future President. It has nothing to do with disagreement with other Democrats, and everything to do with a chance of national appeal.
As to “how things are right now” – both parties have 3 minority Senators. The Republicans have an advantage in governors right now (3 vs 1), but the trend in recent decades has been the opposite. All of this could change in the next few election cycles.
What makes Castro a future President? What has he ever done to give you any indication he could ever be President? If he was Julian Goldstein we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Charisma, political instincts, command of the issues, etc. I don’t know if he has it all, but I think he might. Menendez definitely doesn’t have it.
This is the same kind of bullshit that Obama never could have been elected if he were white. A white politician with Obama’s talents would have been President at age 40.