This Is Not Julián Castro

Here’s a fun fact about 2020 Democratic primary candidate Julián Castro: he has an identical twin brother named Joaquin Castro. The above is a photo of Joaquin, not Julián.

The mistake was pointed out by the candidate on stage at the #SheThePeople forum, where 2020 candidates were speaking directly to women of color.

This seems like a pretty bad error to make at a forum specifically focusing on minority voters! But to be fair, both of the Castros are in politics, and they are identical twins. Joaquin is a Congressman from Texas, while his brother, the presidential candidate, is the former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the former mayor of San Antonio.

Castro, who has gotten little press in recent months compared to upstart candidates like Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke, took the mistake in stride.

“[Joaquin] would say [the mistake is] a good thing because he’s better looking than I am,” Castro said as the crowd cheered and laughed.

In the past, the brothers have joked about their similar appearances, and debated one of them growing a beard so it’d be easier to tell them apart.

In his campaign, Castro has focused almost exclusively on immigration. As the grandson of a Mexican immigrant and a politician from Texas, you would think that he’d be well positioned to make this his signature issue. But it hasn’t seemed to work well enough to get him the kind of attention and donations his competitors are getting. In the first quarter, Castro pulled in only $1.1 million, and ranked ninth among the candidates in a poll conducted earlier this month.

Castro recently came out in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump.

“[Congress is] going to have their congressional hearings and subpoena Bob Mueller, do more inquiry, but at the end of the day, I think the question you’re going to get to is: This president tried to obstruct justice, and should he be held accountable or not? And I believe that he should be held accountable,” Castro told BuzzFeed.

A few days ago, the New York Times published a piece on Castro’s campaign that focused on the fact that he hasn’t yet had a defining moment.

“If everybody would just get out of the way I’d have a clear path,” Castro told the Times jokingly.