Julian Castro in Interviews during 2018-2020
On Civil Rights:
Supports commission investigating reparations for slavery
Castro, one of the most vocal candidates on the issue, said that he has long believed "that our country will never truly heal until we address the original sin of slavery.""If, under our Constitution, we compensate
people if we take their property, why wouldn't we compensate people who were considered property and sanctioned by the state?" he asked.
Source: Associated Press, "Reparations," on 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 3, 2019
On War & Peace:
Opposed troops in Syria, but have to plan withdrawal
I think that many folks recognize that it was time for us to pull out of Syria. However, once you're there, you have to make sure that you have a plan for your operations there and for your withdrawal. I do believe, and I agree with folks that say,
that both for our own sake, for the sake of our troops, for the sake of our allies, once you're there, you have to actually have a solid plan for how you're going to withdraw.
Source: Meet the Press 2018 interviews for 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 31, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Property was taken from slaves, so pay reparations
In an interview [at the SXSW conference], Castro criticised fellow candidate Bernie Sanders for his willingness to write "big checks" for things like healthcare or education, but being unwilling to consider reparations to African-Americans descended
from slaves. The US constitution mandates that Americans be compensated if their property is taken, he noted, so why shouldn't people who were treated as property themselves also receive compensation?"I've long believed that the country should
consider reparations because of the atrocity of slavery," Mr Castro told me. "I believe that we're never going to fully heal as a country from the racial divide until we've addressed the tremendous wrong that was done with slavery."
He said that, as president, he would set up a commission to determine an inclusive way to address "the best path forward". It will be up to those who support reparations to decide whether a "commission" is the kind of bold move they had in mind.
Source: BBC.com on 2020 Democratic primary contenders at 2019 SXSW
Mar 12, 2019
On Principles & Values:
Make America smartest, healthiest, fairest & most prosperous
The former housing and urban development secretary said his goal is to make the US the smartest, healthiest, fairest and most prosperous nation on earth. Maybe it's his response to "make
America great again", although it will be considerably harder to print on a hat.
Source: BBC.com on 2020 Democratic primary contenders at 2019 SXSW
Mar 12, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Protections for GLBTQ; benefits to same-sex partners
Castro also led the creation of one of the country's strictest anti-smoking laws, drafted a successful resolution denouncing Arizona's racist 2010 immigration law, supported extending benefits to same-sex partners of city employees and
, after years of reluctance, eventually supported an update to anti-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
On Corporations:
Supported tax breaks to lure corporations
Castro's approach to job growth often involved corporate giveaways. A month after insurance company AllState announced it was opening up a bilingual customer information center in San Antonio, receiving $1.1 million from the state government,
Castro backed and voted for an incentives package that gave the company a six-year, 65 percent tax abatement, a $30,000 grant for permitting and development fees, and nominated it to be able to receive a $1.25 million refund in sales and uses taxes.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
On Education:
Extended Pre-K education for needy kids
Castro's signature mayoral accomplishment was his "Brainpower Initiative," later changed to "Pre-K 4 SA" and passed by ballot measure in 2012. The initiative raised the sales tax by an eighth of one cent to pay for
extending early childhood education to thousands of mostly impoverished four-year-olds. Castro initiated and relentlessly campaigned for the measure.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Green Jobs Leadership Council: more solar; less coal
Castro created a Green Jobs Leadership Council and voted for an incentive package to bring solar panel maker Nexolon America to the city. CPS Energy (San Antonio's publicly owned energy utility) invested $50 million in alternative energy research
and signed a deal for the world's largest solar installation, approved energy efficiency upgrades to three landmarks, lured green tech companies to the city, inked a deal to build five solar plants, and pledged to close one of its coal plants by 2018.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Supported both fossil fuel and green energy
San Antonio relied on a drilling boom in the Eagle Ford Shale, an oil and natural gas basin. It contributed to the city's poor air quality. This was Castro's "new energy economy": continued investment in and promotion of oil, natural gas,
and "clean coal," partnered with a movement toward alternative energy for electricity production. It was Obama's "all of the above" energy policy, but at the municipal level.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
On Homeland Security:
Supported military expansion into cybersecurity
By 2011 the military's economic impact in the city was measured at $27.7 billion, larger than any other sector. After the US Cyber Command announced plans in 2009 to hire one thousand cyber experts, Castro co-signed a letter asking for them to be
headquartered in the city. "San Antonio is producing the brainpower in the twenty-first century to defend our nation," he told a cybersecurity conference held by the St. Mary's University Center for Terrorism Law.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
On Jobs:
Opposed unionizing city employees
Castro promised not to use the mayor's office to empower unions. While Castro backed the right of non-uniformed city employees to "meet and confer" with the city manager, something unanimously approved by a 2008 council vote, he stressed
that "it's non-binding; it's not collective bargaining," and opposed granting such rights to civilian city employees. Nonetheless, he received the endorsements of several local unions, including the San Antonio Police Officers Association.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
On Tax Reform:
Senior/disabled property tax freeze favored wealthy
Castro was the first council member to advocate for a ballot measure to permanently freeze San Antonio's property taxes for seniors and disabled, even though the city already exempted the elderly from the first $65,000 of their home's value, and the
first $12,500 of a disabled resident's home value. Rather than propose raising these thresholds, Castro favored a blanket freeze. This would chiefly benefit residents in the city's North Side, where property values were higher.
Castro balked at raising property taxes. The 2009 budget cut them by less than 0.2 cents. When one council member suggested raising them in 2010 to avoid service cutbacks, Castro demurred. "I'm very comfortable leaving the property tax rate
where it's at," he said. "We have made significant spending cuts over the last couple years and that has served us well during this budget year." By the time he left office, property taxes in the city hadn't gone up for more than twenty years.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Feb 15, 2019
On Corporations:
Top earners & corporations must pay fair share
I think it's going to take asking wealthier individuals to pay their fair share. We've had basically the last forty years essentially of lower and lower commitment on people at the very top. Same thing goes for corporations. We have multinational
corporations that are hardly paying anything in federal taxes. We need to ask them to pay their fair share. I think that we can consider different ways, different proposals, to be able to raise more revenue from, you know, the wealthiest corporations.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interviews: 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 13, 2019
On Immigration:
Compassion for refugees, pathway for those here
This policy of separating children from their parents and the terrible way that Customs and Border Protection has managed its responsibilities, including the deaths of two children within the last few weeks.
That's a real tragedy.
I don't believe that we should have family detention for people that are seeking asylum or refugee status, so that we should develop other ways to ensure that people are processed, that we're able to keep track of them in the country.
I would make sure that we push as hard as possible for comprehensive immigration reform so that for the people who are already here, if they've been law abiding, if they pay a fine, that they can get an earned path to citizenship.
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2019 interviews: 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 13, 2019
On Foreign Policy:
Strengthen our relationship with allies to keep us safe
Today the greatest threat to our national security is the fact that this president is damaging the relationships that we've had at place in the post-World War II era, whether it's
NATO or other alliances with individual countries, that have kept us safer. The first thing that I would do if I were president, with regard to our relationships around the world, is to strengthen them. Because those alliances have helped keep us safe.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interviews for 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 6, 2019
On Jobs:
Minimum wage should be a living wage
It is a shame today that we have not seen a minimum wage increase in almost a decade. It's different than it used to be, right?
You used to be able to work 40 hours, even on minimum wage, and be able to provide for your family. Today that's not true. And we need to get back to a place in this 21st Century where that is true. The economy works for everybody.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interviews for 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 6, 2019
On Tax Reform:
Top earners, corporations should pay "fair share"
I can support folks at the top paying for fair share. There was a time in this country where the top marginal tax rate was over 90 percent, even during
Reagan's era in the 1980s it was around 50 percent. So do I support, in order to have something like Medicare for all, that we ask folks that are in the top .05 percent or .5 percent or top 1 percent to pay more?
And, also, that we get more serious about making sure the corporations pay their fair share, and that we're smart about understanding how instead of folks having to pay sky
high premiums to companies that are seeking a profit to deliver health care that we can have a better system, even if that means that we rearrange where those dollars go? Yeah, I support that.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interviews for 2020 Democratic primary
Jan 6, 2019
Page last updated: Dec 01, 2021