Obama to name San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro HUD secretary

President Obama plans to name San Antonio mayor and rising Democratic star, Julian Castro, secretary of housing and urban development. Castro had previously turned down an offer from Obama to be nominated as transportation secretary.

President Barack Obama plans to choose San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro as secretary of housing and urban development as part of a Cabinet reshuffle, a Democratic source said on Saturday.

Castro, a rising Latino star in national Democratic politics, would take the place of current HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who would move to head the White House Office of Management and Budget, the source said. Both jobs need U.S. Senate confirmation.

The budget director's job is being freed up by the departure of Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who appears headed for a relatively easy Senate confirmation as secretary of health and human services.

An official announcement did not appear imminent. The White House declined comment on the Cabinet reshuffle.

Castro, 39, mayor of the seventh-largest U.S. city, made his national debut in 2012 at the Democratic National Convention in CharlotteNorth Carolina, where he was the first Latino to deliver a keynote address.

His twin brother, Joaquin Castro, was elected to Congress the following year.

Julian Castro turned down an offer from Obama after the 2012 election to be nominated as transportation secretary.

Joining the Obama administration in a Cabinet-level position could give Castro the kind of visibility that could help his chances of being picked as the Democrats' vice presidential candidate in 2016.

Democrats are eager to press their advantage with Latino voters at a time when Republicans have stalled Obama's drive for comprehensive immigration reform.

Donovan, 48, has been Obama's HUD secretary since Obama took office in 2009. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Obama to name San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro HUD secretary
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0517/Obama-to-name-San-Antonio-Mayor-Julian-Castro-HUD-secretary
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe