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Julian Castro: Democrats Win When They Take A Risk On The Presidential Nominee

Hayden Daniel Deputy & Opinion Editor
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Former Housing and Urban Development secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that every time the Democratic Party has won the presidency, it was “because they have taken a bit of a risk.”

Castro made his comment after Chuck Todd asked him if he was surprised that the three current frontrunners in the Democratic primary, former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, are all over the age of 70.

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“I don’t know if surprised is the right word,” Castro said. “First of all, the folks that you’re talking about are very talented individuals with tremendous experience. But what I hear out there and what I think is going to show itself as we get closer and closer to the Iowa caucus is that people do want a new generation of leadership. You know, for Democrats that are out there, what I hear is a lot of anxiety about, hey, we need to beat Donald Trump. How are we going to beat Donald Trump. Well, if you take a look at the modern era of presidential campaigns, when Democrats have won, it’s because they have taken a bit of a risk, whether it was Kennedy in 1960 or Carter in 1976 or Barack Obama in 2008.”

Castro then made a case for an appeal to young voters as part of Democrats’ 2020 strategy, implying that younger candidates were better suited for that task. (RELATED: Joe Biden: ‘Don’t Vote For Me’ If You’re Worried About My Age)

And we need to get people off the sidelines in 2020. I believe that I can reassemble the Obama coalition and then supercharge that so that we can go back and win Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and then also get the 29 electoral votes of Florida, the 11 electoral votes of Arizona and I believe even the 38 electoral votes of Texas. I’ll just say, Chuck, the other day I was in Iowa. I met a young woman who said that she was going to turn 18 before the Iowa caucus. She said ‘I’m excited to get registered to vote and to go and caucus for you.’ Those are the kinds of things that I’m hearing out there among young people. If we’re going to win this election, we’re going to have to get young people involved and get people off the sidelines.

According to Real Clear Politics, Castro is currently polling at 1.1%, ranking tenth among the Democratic candidates overall.