Don't plan on seeing Congressman Joaquin Castro living in the Texas Governor's Mansion any time soon, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"I'm gonna run for re-election," Castro said today. "If I change my mind, I'll reach out."
Texas Democrats had floated Castro as a potential opponent for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in next year's elections.
Abbott currently has no Democratic opponent.
Analysts say not only is the first term governor by far the most popular politician in Texas, he is sitting on a $50 million plus campaign warchest, and his popularity has soared in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, due to his constant attention to the storm and the victims.
Analysts said Castro was unlikely to give up what is a safe seat in Congress, especially as he is building a solid career on several key House committees, to run for an office he is likely to lose.
The general feeling was that Castro's name was floated to improve the Texas Democratic Party's flagging fundraising. Not having a candidate at all at the top of the ticket in next year's elections is cutting into the party's ability to convince supporters that it is running a slate of candidates that have a chance at ending more than twenty years of Republican domination of Texas statewide politics.