Julián Castro’s Campaign Needs a Boost
The presidential campaign of Julián Castro was getting low on cash, so about nine days ago it made a huge request to its supporters: help Julián raise $800K over the course of the next 10 days or he’ll be forced to end his candidacy. The campaign set a hard deadline of October 31, and in a recent statement, campaign manager Maya Rupert said, “Secretary Castro has run a historic campaign that has changed the nature of the 2020 election and pushed the Democratic party on a number of big ideas. Unfortunately, we do not see a path to victory that doesn’t include making the November debate stage — and without a significant uptick in our fundraising, we cannot make that debate.”
So how’s it all going? Well, if you mosey over to Julián Castro’s campaign website you’ll notice there hasn’t been a new post since October 16, however, this pinned tweet has been up on the candidate’s twitter for the last 17 hours or so.
BIG NEWS: we’re 80% of the way to our $800,000 goal by the end of October.
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) October 30, 2019
Help us close the gap—pitch in $10 today to keep us in this race.
DONATE NOW: https://t.co/jWiM14OCni pic.twitter.com/rX3amEORqD
Meanwhile, the Castro has made several public appearances in an effort to reach out to voters even making time to visit inmates in a DC jail to discuss prison reform:
He also appeared in this feature produced by the Washington Post:
With Julián being the only Latinx candidate in the race the stakes couldn’t be any higher. Money goals aside, a significant test for the campaign will be whether Castro will reach the polling threshold by the November 13th deadline in order to qualify for the debates set to be staged at Tyler Perry Studios in southwest Atlanta on November 20th.
According to FiveThirtyEight, of the nearly 20 candidates only 9 have qualified for that debate. The site also states that:
As a reminder, the Democratic National Committee’s qualifying criteria for the fifth debate require candidates to get at least 3 percent support in four national or early-state1 polls sponsored by a DNC-approved organization or at least 5 percent in two early-state polls.2 Candidates also need contributions from at least 165,000 individual donors (including at least 600 individual donors from each of 20 states or territories).3
FiveThirtyEight
What does this mean for Castro’s chances? While he’s amassed a large following for his focus on progressive reforms across multiple issues, it appears that his platform is struggling beat his mostly-white counterparts in nationwide polls while simultaneously lacking their level of cashflow.
Any momentum going forward will be based on the perception of electability. For the majority of the electorate that ultimately comes down to who they see on TV the most. If Castro goes MIA during the debates, it’s likely his constituents will follow suit and ghost.
