Obama to Nominate San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro as HUD Secretary

President Barack Obama plans to nominate San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro as head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in a Cabinet reshuffling, government sources confirmed to NBC News.

Castro, 39, would replace Shaun Donovan, who has served as HUD secretary since January 2009. He is expected to become head of the Office of Management and Budget, according to The New York Times.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who holds that job, has been nominated by Obama as the new secretary of Health and Human Services following Kathleen Sebelius' resignation in April.

According to a government source, Castro is still being vetted, but an official announcement could come soon.

Obama is picking the San Antonio native because of his record on downtown revitalization, sources added.

Castro, who is Mexican-American, shot onto the national stage as the Democrats' keynote speaker at the 2012 convention. His twin brother, Rep. Joaqun Castro, was elected to Congress that year.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro speaks during the Civil Rights Summit at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library on April 8, 2014, in Austin, Texas. He is expected to be tapped as the new HUD secretary, sources said.

As mayor of the countrys seventh-largest city, he has touted it out as a forerunner in the demographic change that the country is experiencing. San Antonio is a majority-minority city and is 63 percent Latino.

Castro has heavily emphasized economic growth and education in his three terms as mayor.

Raised by a single mother, he had an early introduction to politics. His mother was an activist for the civil rights of Mexican Americans and others in the 1970s, and would take Castro and his brother to rallies and talk politics with them.

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Obama to Nominate San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro as HUD Secretary

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