Julián Castro

Castro in photo By United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, c. 2014 – United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Place of Birth: San Antonio, Bexar, Texas, U.S.

Date of Birth: September 16, 1974

Ethnicity: Mexican [Spanish, Indigenous, some African]

Julián Castro is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he has served as Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from June 1, 2009 to July 22, 2014, and United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, from July 28, 2014 to January 20, 2017.

He was a candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States in 2020.

Julián is the son of Maria Del Rosario “Rosie” Castro and Jessie Guzman. His parents are both political activists. His mother helped establish the Chicano (Mexican-American) political party La Raza Unida. A picture of Julián with his mother can be seen here.

Julián’s identical twin brother is politician Joaquín Castro. Julián is married to school teacher Erica Lira, with whom he has two children. Erica is also of Mexican origin.

Julián’s maternal grandfather was named Edward Pérez.

Julián’s maternal grandmother was Victoria Manuela Castro Alvarado (the daughter of Victoriano Castro Gallardo and María Anastacia Alvarado Cortés). Victoria was born in San Pedro, Coahuila, Mexico, and moved to the U.S. around 1920. Victoriano was the son of Manuel Castro Carrillo and María de Jesús Gallardo Sumarán. Anastacia was the daughter of Higinio Alvarado López and Trinidad Cortés Juárez/Villanueva/Villarreal.

Julián’s matrilineal line can be traced back to his third great-grandmother, María Sebastiana Juárez/Villanueva/Villarreal.

Julián is one of several people of Hispanic ancestry to have mounted a major campaign for President of the United States. The others were/are:
*Ben Fernandez (who sought the 1980, 1984, and 1988 Republican nominations; Fernandez’s parents were Mexican)
*Bill Richardson (who sought the 2008 Democratic nomination; three of Richardson’s grandparents were Hispanic)
*Ted Cruz (2016; Republican; won 11 contests; Cruz’s father is Cuban)
*Marco Rubio (2016; Republican; won 3 contests; Rubio’s parents are Cuban)
*Richard Ojeda (who sought the 2020 Democratic nomination; Ojeda’s paternal grandfather was Mexican)
*Francis Suarez (who sought the 2024 Republican nomination; Suarez is of Cuban descent)

Several prominent candidates for President of the United States can be considered Hispanic in a sense, though they were not of Spanish and/or Indigenous ancestry:
*George W. Romney (who sought the 1968 Republican nomination, and whose name was placed in nomination for 1964’s; he was born in Mexico, of non-Hispanic descent)
*Pierre S. du Pont IV (who sought the 1988 Republican nomination; his maternal grandfather was born in Chile, of non-Hispanic descent)
*John McCain (who sought the 2000 Republican nomination, and who was the 2008 Republican nominee; he was born in Panama, of non-Hispanic descent)
*Mitt Romney (who sought the 2008 Republican nomination, and who was the 2012 Republican nominee; his father George was born in Mexico, of non-Hispanic descent)

Sources: Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak on Julián’s family history – http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Oral history of Julián’s mother, about her family – https://library.uta.edu

Genealogy of Julián Castro (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com