Julián Castro, a secretary of housing and urban development in the Obama administration and a former San Antonio mayor, has dropped out of the Democratic presidential race.
The only Latino candidate in the Democratic field released a video on Twitter Thursday, saying that his campaign had "stood up for the most vulnerable people" and had "given a voice to those who are often forgotten."
Castro struggled to stand out of a crowded Democratic field, and didn't gain much traction in national or state polls.
Castro was one of the first major candidates to formally launch his bid, announcing in January. He often praised the support of his family, specifically his identical twin brother, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, and his mother, Rosie Castro, a Mexican-American civil rights activist who took part in the Chicano movement.
In an interview with The Washington Post in early October, Rosie Castro argued that her son was not climbing in the polls because of more than just fundraising numbers — she said it was also because of media coverage.
"There was no respect, if you will," Rosie Castro told the newspaper. "It's just the way that he's talked about sometimes makes you feel like they just don't get it, you know, that they have not been around minorities enough to be able to have a sense for — we can also create, we can also lead."
Castro had criticized President Trump on NPR as "the biggest identity politician" in modern politics.
"What he's trying to do is, he's trying to split people along racial and ethnic and religious lines," Castro told the NPR Politics Podcast. "His specialty, if you will, is division, trying to just amp up a base. He's the biggest identity politician that we've had over the past 50 years."
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