Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro has placed a $50,000 ad in Iowa, the latest attempt by the now lone Texas candidate in the presidential race to boost his poll numbers.
“He’ll never understand what makes this country great, what makes a story like yours and mine possible,” Castro said of Trump in the 30-second ad. “This country belongs to all of us, and we will beat Trump when all of us believe that again.”
Castro’s media buy comes amid a report by Politico that said the Castro campaign plans to fire staff in New Hampshire and South Carolina in order to focus on states like Nevada and Iowa– two early voting states the Castro campaign believes it can perform well enough in to receive two DNC-approved polls of 5 percent in order to qualify for the November debate.
As of Tuesday, Castro has received no polls that would bring him closer to qualifying for the upcoming debate on Nov. 20. The latest aggregate of national polls shows Castro below 1 percent among the Democratic candidates.
“The truth is, for our campaign, these debates have offered our only guaranteed opportunity to share my vision with the American people,” Castro said in an email to supporters last month. “If I can’t make the next debate stage, we cannot sustain a campaign that can make it to Iowa in February.”
Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignal.com
