Julián Castro claimed Iowa and New Hampshire should not be the first states to hold presidential primary elections because they are “not reflective” of the diversity in the United States.
Castro, 45, told MSNBC that Iowa and New Hampshire shouldn’t be the nation’s bellwether state for the presidential primaries. He said that the order of the primary races should change to better reflect the diversity of the country and the Democratic Party.
“I honestly that we do need to change the order of the states because I don’t believe that we’re the same country we were in 1972. That’s when Iowa first held its caucus first and, by the time we have the next presidential election in 2024, it’ll have been more than 50 years since 1972,” Castro said. “Our country has changed a lot in those 50 years.”
I was asked today in Iowa about the order of our primaries. I appreciate how seriously Iowa & New Hampshire take their role as first-in-the-nation.
But we’ve changed in the 50 years since order was established—and I believe it’s time our primaries reflect our nation’s diversity. pic.twitter.com/mY0EvnhXNr
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) November 11, 2019
[Also read: Confusion: Biden calls Julián Castro ‘Cisneros’ and Hispanics ‘African’]
Castro claimed that Iowa voters take their roles seriously and vet the candidates, but the voters are not sufficiently representative of the American people.
“Demographically, it’s not reflective of the United States as a whole. Certainly not reflective of the Democratic Party,” Castro said. “I believe that other states should have their chance.”
He said he doesn’t want America to “be married to Iowa and New Hampshire going first.”
Castro, a Texas Democrat, has struggled to break into the top-tier of Democratic candidates. He has yet to qualify for the November presidential debate. One of the qualifying metrics for that debate was to poll above 5% in one of the first primary states, including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.
