San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, racking up the frequent flyer miles.
Mayor Julian Castro
On Saturday, Castro spoke to Democratic campaign workers at a strip mall near Fort Belvoir and to students at George Mason University in a coordinated effort by the Obama re-election campaign to get out the vote.
“Virginia is among a handful of states carrying the voice of the nation,” Castro said to a throng of enthusiastic Democratic volunteers.
At one of his first campaign stops since his national political coming-out, students cheered wildly when Castro appeared at an outdoors commons area at George Mason. He posed for pictures, shook hands and mingled with students who turned out on a sun-dappled day to meet the Democratic Party’s rising star.
Castro, who twice has won nonpartisan elections for mayor, said he will be campaigning for Obama and the Democrats throughout the fall but insists he’ll continue to mind the duties of his office, including campaigning for a 1/8-cent sales tax increase to fund Pre-K 4 SA, an early childhood education program for eligible San Antonio children, also on the ballot in November.
In Castro, Obama supporters will find a well-matched surrogate for key social issues, the kind that mobilize base voters and swing undecideds — pro-choice, pro-affirmative action, sympathetic to immigrant struggles and a strong record of economic success. San Antonio has one of the nation’s strongest local economies.
He expects to travel to other swing states, such as Colorado, Nevada and Florida. He’ll also return to Texas to focus on pressing municipal matters, including the city’s $2.3 billion budget that will be approved this month.
I’m not crazy to think that Texas Democrats will see some of this love sent back here when Castro runs for Governor in 2018, am I? In the meantime, maybe we could get an early return on this investment by printing and selling Castro National Tour T-shirts. I mean, if he’s going to get the rock star treatment, we may as well go all out, right?