Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) hired two senior officials from Julián Castro’s shuttered presidential campaign for her own White House bid as she bolsters her efforts in the home stretch to the nation’s first primaries and caucuses.
Maya Rupert, who served as a senior policy adviser at the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Castro and was his campaign manager, will be a senior adviser and campaign surrogate for Warren. Natalie Montelongo, who was the Castro campaign’s political director, will be a senior strategist working on Warren’s political and constituency outreach.
The hires, which were first reported by Politico and confirmed by The Hill, bring two of the highest-ranking women of color working in the Democratic primary race to Warren’s campaign.
“Maya Rupert and Natalie Montelongo have both done important work breaking down barriers and paving the way for others to follow,” Warren said in a statement to Politico. “I’m grateful that these two exceptionally talented women have joined our fight for big, structural change.”
The hires come after Castro threw his support behind Warren following the shuttering of his own presidential campaign earlier this month.
The former Housing and Urban Development secretary and San Antonio mayor has emerged as one of Warren’s top surrogates, crisscrossing the country to campaign in several key primary and caucus states. He’s also brought a number of other lawmakers who backed his White House bid, including his brother, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), into Warren’s camp.
Julián Castro will emerge as an even more significant surrogate for Warren as she remains stuck in Washington six days a week for the Senate’s impeachment trial.
Several of Castro’s top aides have already joined Warren’s campaign with more on the way, according to Politico.