Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) sent a supportive message to his twin brother Julián Castro on Thursday after the former Housing and Urban Development secretary dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary.
The lawmaker thanked his brother for speaking up for “the forgotten and the vulnerable” — the group of people the congressman said “we grew up with.”
“You’ve made your family and community proud,” Joaquin Castro tweeted, along with a picture of the brothers as children.
“Look at this picture — the weeds in our backyard in a neighborhood that outsiders called the bad side of town, no car, no money, but big dreams and the feeling of nothing to lose. You started life from scratch,” he added.
Castro continued his message, thanking his brother for saying “uncomfortable things that needed to be said.”
“You called on our country to be more just, more humane, more who we’re supposed to be, and gave hope to so many in a dark time. I love you, brother,” he tweeted.
Julián Castro ended his campaign Thursday after struggling to break through in the crowded field.
He was the only Latino in the race and one of the few candidates of color left in the field.
The progressive Democrat had failed to make the cut for the November and December debates and was likely to miss the threshold for this month’s debate in Iowa.