For anyone interested in whom the Texas Democratic Party will look to for leadership in the very near, consider rising twin brothers Julian and Joaquin Castro. Both are Stanford and Harvard Law graduates. Both represent San Antonio – Julian as mayor; Joaquin as a state representative. Each is being groomed for higher office.
From his perch as San Antonio mayor, Julian could very likely seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2014. By then, current Republican Governor Rick Perry will either be in the White House or in an uphill battle for election to his fourth term in office. (Perry doesn’t have a history of landslides. In 2006, he won a four-way race with 36% of the popular vote. In 2010, he won just 51% in a three-way primary after more than a decade as governor.)
For his part, Joaquin just announced a primary challenge to nine-term Democratic congressman Lloyd Doggett. A new redistricting map connects south Austin with San Antonio, making the state legislator a natural fit to represent the two cities he’s spent the most time in since being elected to office.
Texas’ demographic trend mirrors California. Currently, no race is a majority in Texas, but by the end of the decade, Hispanics will be. With the state and federal legislative delegations increasingly split between Anglo Republican and minority Democrats, don’t be surprised if someday Julian Castro becomes governor while his brother Joaquin serves in the U.S. Senate.
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