Early last week, Castro told the White House he would accept the offer for a national role that supporters hope will groom him to the presumptive first Latino running mate on a national ticket.
“Probably wasn’t going to happen from the mayor’s job,” said Henry Cisneros, a HUD secretary for Bill Clinton and a former mayor of San Antonio himself, as well as a kindergarten classmate of Castro’s mother who has stayed close with the family over the years. “You have to have national positions of greater responsibility, breadth — and this begins that course.”
Cisneros said the move was crucial in preparing a bench of young Latinos for the Democratic Party, which lacks big Latino political stars like Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
“Could he be on a Hillary ticket as a result of learning the breadth of the issues and the nation?” Cisneros added. “The answer is yes.”
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