Julián Castro has never won an election for statewide or federal office. But he’s running for president.

“With big dreams and hard work, anything is possible in this county,” Castro said Saturday in San Antonio as he announced his run for the presidency.

Castro, a lawyer, served as mayor of San Antonio, the nation’s seventh-most-populous city, from 2009 to 2014.

From that perch, he’s angled for national prominence.

In 2012, Castro delivered the Democratic National Convention’s keynote address, prompting pundits to dub him the “Latino Barack Obama” — Obama himself delivered the Democratic National Convention keynote address in 2004. By 2014, Obama had tapped him as Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary.

Hillary Clinton considered Castro as her presidential running mate, but instead chose Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia. Since leaving HUD in 2017, Castro’s profile has decreased, and he hasn’t received nearly the attention of prospective presidential candidates such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, who remain in federal office.

Nevertheless, Castro, 44, formed an exploratory committee in December, declaring in a not-so-veiled shot at President Donald Trump that “Americans are ready to climb out of this darkness.”

Here’s more on Castro’s political and financial history: