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U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro\u2019s comments came during a San Antonio-focused panel at the 2025 Texas Tribune Festival. Credit: Michael Karlis<\/p>\nU.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro\u2019s comments came during a San Antonio-focused panel at the 2025 Texas Tribune Festival. Credit: Michael Karlis<\/p>\n
Austin \u2014 U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said during a public appearance Friday that he\u2019s still considering a run for statewide office and that he\u2019ll make a final determination before the Dec. 8 candidate filing deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t ruled anything out,\u201d said the seven-term congressman said during a San Antonio-focused panel at this year\u2019s Texas Tribune Festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Castro said he joined a Zoom call earlier this year with former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, State Rep. James Talarico and one-time El Paso Congressman Beto O\u2019Rouke to figure out which office each planned to run for. Castro added that he didn\u2019t want to see the quartet of Democratic power players waste the opportunity by saturating a single race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really make sense to have four people running for U.S. Senate and then have nobody running for anything else,\u201d Castro said. \u201cAt one point, I told a few of those guys I\u2019d slot down to the [Texas Attorney General] race if you guys can figure out the rest and who\u2019s running for what. But we just couldn\u2019t get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the meeting, Allred and Talarico are running against each other in the 2026 Democratic primary for Texas\u2019 U.S. Senate race. The primary victor will take on either Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the general election.<\/p>\n
The Senate race is seen as winnable for Democrats, especially if scandal-ridden<\/a> Paxton takes the GOP nomination. That explains why Castro appeared frustrated Allred and Talarico are battling each other in the primary.<\/p>\n Indeed, Allred took a jab at Talarico during a separate TribFest panel, using his time at the mic to target his opponent\u2019s donor list.<\/p>\n \u201cI like James, but when I see him say he\u2019s running against billionaires, but then when nobody was looking, his top donor was Miriam Adelson,\u201d Allred said.<\/p>\n A PAC funded by Adelson, a casino mogul and Republican megadonor, gave Talarico\u2019s state House re-election campaign $59,000 last year, Politico reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, \u00a0four Republicans and two Democrats\u00a0have announced plans to run for the seat Paxton is leaving vacant. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a far-right firebrand whose district includes part of San Antonio, is among the GOP contenders. <\/p>\n Castro said both the AG and U.S. Senate races represent great opportunities for Texas Democrats.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[It] was my hope that we would have a full slate, and we didn\u2019t quite get there,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>| Twitter<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tHitching yourself to the least popular president in U.S. history might not be such a great idea, dare we suggest.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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