SAN ANTONIO (CN) – Elizabeth Warren’s presidential bid got a boost Monday from one of the top Latinos in the Democratic Party, as Julian Castro threw his weight behind the Massachusetts senator days after ending his own 2020 campaign.
“There’s one candidate I see who's unafraid to fight like hell to make sure America’s promise will be there for everyone, who will make sure that no matter where you live in America or where your family came from in the world, you have a path to opportunity too,” Castro said in a video released on Twitter Monday morning. “That's why I'm proud to endorse Elizabeth Warren for president.”
Castro, a former Obama cabinet secretary and San Antonio mayor, dropped out of the Democratic nominating contest on Thursday after a year-long campaign that never really took off with voters. In officially suspending his campaign a month before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses, Castro, the only Latino in the race, said he determined “it simply isn’t our time.”
His departure left 14 candidates in the Democratic primary, with former Vice President Joe Biden continuing to lead nationally with the support of 32% of voters in the most recent Morning Consult poll of over 17,000 Democratic voters. Senator Bernie Sanders came in second with 21%, followed by Warren at 14% and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 8%.
Castro’s formal endorsement of Warren is not unexpected given the two Democrats’ support of similar progressive policy positions, including issues of housing, LGBTQ rights and criminal justice reform. The partnership could help inject energy into Warren’s campaign, which has lost some ground from her frontrunner status in the last few months.
Warren thanked Castro for his endorsement on Twitter, calling him “a powerful voice for bold, progressive change.”
“I’m not running for president just to go live in the White House,” Warren said in the video, which features her and Castro in a dining room table conversation at her Cambridge, Massachusetts home. “I’m running for president to make change for our families all across this country. To make change so that everybody has real opportunity in this country.”
Castro will appear alongside Warren on Tuesday at a campaign stop at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York.
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