Less than one year ago, leading Latino Democrat Julián Castro threw his sombrero into the ring of left-wing candidates for his party's 2020 presidential nomination.  As I wrote at American Thinker last January 15:

Castro is the 44-year-old former mayor of San Antonio who served as the secretary of housing and urban development during the last three years of the Obama administration.  He is the grandson of a Mexican woman who "crossed" to the U.S. in 1922.  Almost every article I read about Castro recently describes him as "a rising star in the Democratic Party."

In the announcement of his candidacy on January 12, 2019, Castro occasionally spoke in Spanish.  In his withdrawal announcement on January 2, 2020, he opened and closed in Spanish.  During his year of unsuccessful campaigning around the country, including in Puerto Rico, as the only Latino among the large number of Democrat candidates, he was "the most progressive candidate in the field," according to one left-wing observer — which is quite an achievement in a race dominated by open socialists.

Julián Castro, 2019.  Source: Castro's campaign website, julianforthefuture.com.

Castro's enthusiastic advocacy of a laundry list of far-left positions, including open borders and decriminalizing illegal entry into the United States — which he and his backers assumed would win him instant support from America's fast growing Hispanic population — failed to gain him much approval among Democrats.  According to Real Clear Politics:

The RealClearPolitics polling average showed Castro consistently near the bottom of the field with less than 2% support.

In addition to his vigorous pro–illegal immigration and open borders stands, Castro supported no restriction on abortions up to the moment of live birth, Medicare for All, universal pre-K, a ban on "assault weapons," and a laundry list of other leftist proposals.  Ultimately, the only thing setting him apart from the plethora of other Democrat presidential wannabes, most of whom support the same positions, was his Latino heritage and his "minority" status.

In an attempt to break out of the pack of fellow contenders, Castro attacked frontrunner Joe Biden during last September's candidates' debate — the last one that Castro qualified for.  As USA Today reported on September 13:

In the sharpest salvo of Thursday night's debate, the former Housing and Urban Development Secretary struck hard in the most blatant shot at Biden's age by a fellow Democratic contender since he entered the race.

Castro accused Biden of forgetting that he had said people would have to opt in to get Medicare-like insurance under his health care plan. 

As USA Today headlined its September 13, 2019 analysis, however, "Castro's attack on Joe Biden's age fell flat."  At the first Democrat debate in June, Castro had tried to gain some traction by trotting out another well rehearsed attack, this one aimed at his fellow Texan, Beto O'Rourke, as the Dallas Morning News reported, "questioning [O'Rourke's] commitment to protecting migrants because he refused to join a call to decriminalize border crossing without permission."

In the wake of his year-long lackluster campaign sputtering to an end yesterday, Castro and his supporters blamed — guess what! — racism and white privilege.  As a postmortem on his campaign yesterday at POLITICO, titled "Castro allies lash out after his exit — After the ex-HUD secretary dropped out of the race, supporters cast him as a victim of a process that inhibits candidates of color," put it:

When he bowed out of the race Thursday, [Castro's] allies expressed frustration that he was prevented from doing so, casting him as a victim of a primary process that inhibits candidates of color. In interviews, a half-dozen former aides and allies cast the first major Latino candidate in the 2020 race as a casualty of a system that already felled California Sen. Kamala Harris and is keeping New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker from gaining traction.

What's next for this slightly tarnished "rising star"?  According to a number of mainstream pundits, Castro will now go home to San Antonio (when he's not traveling around the country), where he will be waiting in the wings, positioning himself to pitch his qualifications as a 2020 Democrat vice presidential nominee.  In an opinion piece in the New York Times published shortly after Castro's withdrawal, Republican strategist Liz Mair wrote, "Julián Castro Is Worth More Out of the Presidential Race Than He Was in It."  And if Castro's hopes to be nominated for V.P. this summer don't pan out, there is always the possibility of him mounting another run for the top job in 2024 — assuming President Trump is re-elected, of course, and there is no Democrat incumbent.  The way things are going with Castro and his fellow Democrats, that outcome seems more certain with each passing day.

In his withdrawal announcement yesterday, Castro said, "¡Ganaremos un día!," which translates as "One day we'll win!"  We shall see, Julián.

Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran journalist who writes about politics, media, popular culture, and health care for American Thinker and other publications.  Peter's website is http://peter.media.  His new YouTube channel is here.  Follow Peter on Twitter at @pchowka.