At an Elizabeth Warren rally in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, Julián Castro, who dropped out of the presidential race less than a week earlier, urged the audience to support Warren. Here is an abridged version of his remarks:

Now, as you all know, I also ran for president, and I’m proud of the campaign that we ran. I ran for president because I have a vision for an America where everyone counts, where every voice is heard. I ran for president because I felt tremendously blessed with the opportunity that I’ve had in life, and I wanted to make sure that everybody, no matter who you are, could have that same kind of opportunity.

Some of y’all know that I have a twin brother, Joaquín. My brother is here tonight. Don’t clap too loud, or I’m gonna get jealous. You know, Joaquín and I grew up in the west side of San Antonio with my mother and my grandmother. My grandmother had come over to the United States in 1922 from northern Mexico because her parents had passed away. She never finished elementary school, so she worked as a maid, a cook, and a babysitter. She raised our mother as a single parent. And my mom raised my brother and me as a single parent, too. We grew up and are proud products of the public schools of Texas.

And just to think that only two generations after our grandmother got here, like I bet a lot of your family members did, one of her grandsons – she only had two grandkids – one of her grandsons is representing the neighborhood she grew up in as a congressman for the 20th congressional district of Texas. And chairing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

And the other one had the opportunity to serve in President Obama’s cabinet and to run for president of the United States of America. That is America. That is the possibility of our country. That is the story of so many people in our country.

And now, I’m here because I believe in a person who is going to make sure that those same kind of opportunities that my brother and I were blessed with, and that so many people here as well have been fortunate to have, of a good education, of the chance to get a good job. To get decent healthcare, to be able to reach for your dreams – that we make that possible for every single person in this country in the years to come.

And I had the opportunity to see all of the candidates. At one time, y’all remember, at one time we had 25 candidates that were running in this cycle. Twenty-five. I had the opportunity to see all of the candidates, to get to know many of the candidates, to understand them. This is what I understand about Elizabeth Warren: she is a fighter for everyday Americans!

She’s a fighter because she has also struggled and lived that American dream. Elizabeth Warren grew up the daughter of a janitor. She grew up to become a public school teacher.

And a law professor. And a United States senator. And a champion for consumers everywhere in this country.

She knows what sacrifice is like – after her father had a heart attack, her mom had to take a minimum-wage job at Sears to make ends meet. She understands because she’s listened to people for many years, throughout this country. She’s a fighter because she knows that too often the deck is stacked against people who just want a shot at reaching their dreams. She knows that too often today in Washington, the power goes to special interests who can afford big lobbyists and lawyers to write in special provisions and legislation. She knows that we need to get big money out of politics.

And let me tell you something, I don’t have to guess what kind of president she’s going to be, because I’ve seen firsthand what kind of a senator she is.

I had the opportunity to serve as secretary of housing and urban development for President Obama.

As part of that, I worked with Senator Warren, who sits on the Senate banking and finance committee that has jurisdiction over Hud, and I remember one day going to lunch and we were going to lunch in the Senate dining room, and I was, you know, looking forward to the lunch, and I thought that we’d have a nice leisurely lunch and you know, get to know each other and have some small talk. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening.

She wasn’t there for small talk. She was there to know what I was going to do to make sure that more people could stay in their homes. She was there to know what we were gonna do to make sure that we saw to it that homeless people got a place to live.

She’s a fighter for everyday Americans that simply want a shot. So I know that that’s the kind of president that she’s gonna be. And here’s the thing. We’re meeting at a very special moment in this entire campaign cycle. We’re less than a month away from when the voting starts in Iowa. February 3rd is the Iowa caucus. That’s right. Twenty-seven days.

And look, I have tremendous respect for everybody who’s running in this race. This is perhaps the most talented field of people – there’s an embarrassment of riches, of people who have a great vision, and great integrity, a great track record, experience. It has been said many times in many different campaign seasons, but you know what? I think this is more true this year than ever before – any one of the folks that are running would make a better president than the president that we have sitting in the Oval Office today.

But here’s the thing that I saw: so many times when we would get out there and I’d be having a conversation with somebody and they’d be nodding their head in Des Moines or in Davenport, or somewhere in Iowa or in Manchester, New Hampshire, and I thought I had them sold on my candidacy, they’d say you know, I really, really like you, I love what you’re talking about but, my first choice is Elizabeth Warren.

You’re in my top three, but my first choice is Elizabeth Warren. More than any other candidate in this race, more than any other candidate that’s going to be on that debate stage in a few days, Elizabeth Warren is the candidate who can unite the entire Democratic party. She can bring people together. She can appeal to all sides. People believe in her vision.

You have a preponderance of younger voters, that support Elizabeth and older voters that also support Elizabeth. You have people in small towns and people in big cities that support Elizabeth. You have folks that are dreaming about a country that we can have that represents the best of who we are.

And think about what it’s going to take to defeat Donald Trump in November of 2020. Consistently, when you talk to people on the ground, you find that they like Elizabeth Warren. You find that they’re willing to support her. You find that she has the best damn organization in these early states. In Iowa and New Hampshire and Nevada, all around our country.

The level of enthusiasm is tremendous. And so I wanted to come here tonight to tell you that I am proud to support Senator Elizabeth Warren for president of the United States of America.

I’m proud to support her on behalf of all the people that we were fighting for in our campaign. I’m proud to support her on behalf of every single person who is sleeping on the street tonight and needs a safe, decent, affordable place to live.

I’m proud to support her on behalf of people like Ms Swain that I met in Waukee, Iowa. Who had lived in a trailer park for 40 years until she got a letter from a private equity group, telling her that they’d just bought out her trailer park and they were raising her rent more than 60%. I’m proud to support Senator Warren on behalf of so many people who are going broke because they got sick. Proud to support her on behalf of parents of children with disabilities who simply want to see their child be able to get the kind of education that they deserve.

And I’m proud to support her on behalf of each and every one of those migrants out there that is simply dreaming of a better life in the United States of America, so that we can say in the years to come no more kids in cages, no more separating families, no more playing games with people seeking asylum, we can do this in a better, more effective, more humane way.

And the person that is going to lead us to a better America for everyone is Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Help me welcome the next president of the United States of America, Elizabeth Warren.