--- title: Julián Castro Finally Had His Big Moment at the First Debate description: Julián Castro has been a rising star in the Democratic Party since at least 2012, but he didn't catch the spotlight until Wednesday night. canonical: https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-27T05:10:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:52:53.207Z article:section: Politics og:title: Julián Castro Finally Had His Big Moment og:description: He did well at the Democratic debates og:url: https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ce28a4bfa2389cd/6989ff2d4ee2620196315e06/dem-debate-21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Election 2020 Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Julián Castro Finally Had His Big Moment twitter:description: He did well at the Democratic debates twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ce28a4bfa2389cd/6989ff2d4ee2620196315e06/dem-debate-21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Julián Castro Finally Had His Big Moment at the First Debate > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=7d981920-cc81-4779-a052-13931772c364&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Highlights from Night One of the First 2020 Democratic Debate [Watch (HLS stream): Highlights from Night One of the First 2020 Democratic Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kSGXGpIE.m3u8) (2:26)  _Published 2019-06-27. The first Democratic debate of the 2020 election quickly divided the 10 candidates on stage Wednesday night from those supporting more progressive proposals to those who chose a more moderate path, even as they broadly agreed on their goals._  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jun 27, 2019 5:10 AM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jun 27, 2019 5:10 AM UTC Julián Castro has been a rising star in the Democratic Party [since at least 2012](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/who-is-juli-n-castro-the-democratic-convention-keynote-speaker/261896/), but it took him until Wednesday’ night’s presidential primary debate to finally catch the spotlight. Since launching his campaign, the former San Antonio mayor, Democratic National Convention keynote speaker and HUD Secretary has had the personal story, [bold policy proposals](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/24/julian-castro-2020-1379553) and smooth speaking style that are hallmarks of a solid contender. What he hasn’t had is any attention. But given a chance to share the stage in Miami with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Castro finally had his moment. He used a detailed immigration reform plan as a launching pad to talk eloquently about recent headlines about migrant children held in appalling conditions and the heartbreaking photo of [Oscar Martinez and his young daughter Valencia](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/us/father-daughter-border-drowning-picture-mexico.html), who drowned trying to cross the border. His immigration agenda took straight aim at his fellow Texan, O’Rourke. Castro’s plan is [revolutionary](https://medium.com/@JulianCastro2020/putting-people-first-e0f765cee00c) by any standard: he wants to decriminalize border crossings, establish a comprehensive pathway to citizenship, break up ICE as it currently exists and create a Marshall Plan to invest in Latin American countries to de-incentivize migrants from heading north. He promised to end the “metering” system on asylum claims that forced Martinez and his daughter Valeria to attempt a [fatal river crossing](https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/26/politics/mexico-father-daughter-dead-rio-grande-wednesday/index.html). And he challenged his opponents onstage — especially O’Rourke — to support the repeal of Section 1325, which criminalizes illegal immigration and is used as a pretense to separate families and deport undocumented immigrants. His plan would reclassify immigration as a civil issue rather than a criminal one. Warren has already [endorsed](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-immigration%5Fn%5F5d1238bae4b07ae90da46c88?2ha) the plan, and over the course of the debate Thursday, many of the other Democrats raced to catch up. Booker said “what Secretary Castro and I are talking about is that we have the power to better deal with this problem through the civil process than the criminal process.” Rep. Tim Ryan said “I agree with Secretary Castro.” Even Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who voiced Midwestern skepticism about bold proposals on free college and Medicare for All at other points in the debate, said she would be “happy to look at his proposal.” When O’Rourke called for immigration reform but stopped short of supporting the repeal of Section 1325 out of concern it could embolden human traffickers (“I don’t think it’s asking too much for people to follow our laws when they come to this country,”) Castro pointed out that human trafficking is already against the law, and urged him to “do your homework on this issue.” In the [spin room after the debates](https://twitter.com/tparti/status/1144084458653519874?s=21), Castro’s brother Joaquin said he didn’t intend to single out O’Rourke on immigration, but that for a representative of a border town he’s been “disappointing” on the issue. On issues beyond immigration, Castro held his own and appeared confident and well-prepared. He didn’t bluster or make mistakes. He also seemed to have a firm grasp on the message of inclusion that has pervaded the Democratic primary. In response to a question about whether his health plan would cover abortion access, Castro said that his plan would cover abortions, then added that that coverage wouldn’t just apply to women, but would also include “someone in the trans community.” By the end of the night, Castro had sent out a campaign email in Spanish and liberal Twitter was aflutter with a new idea: Warren/Castro 2020. _With Lissandra Villa in Washington_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/"},"headline":"Julián Castro Finally Had His Big Moment at the First Debate","datePublished":"2019-06-27T05:10:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:52:53.207Z","description":"Julián Castro has been a rising star in the Democratic Party since at least 2012, but he didn't catch the spotlight until Wednesday night.","url":"https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/","keywords":["Debates","Immigration","2020 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ce28a4bfa2389cd/6989ff2d4ee2620196315e06/dem-debate-21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ce28a4bfa2389cd/6989ff2d4ee2620196315e06/dem-debate-21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Election 2020 Debate","caption":"Election 2020 Debate","creditText":"Wilfredo Lee—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/","name":"Julián Castro Finally Had His Big Moment at the First Debate"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Highlights from Night One of the First 2020 Democratic Debate","description":"The first Democratic debate of the 2020 election quickly divided the 10 candidates on stage Wednesday night from those supporting more progressive proposals to those who chose a more moderate path, even as they broadly agreed on their goals.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/kSGXGpIE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-06-27T04:05:31.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kSGXGpIE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/","duration":"PT2M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5615409/democratic-primary-debate-julian-castro/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```