The grandson of immigrants, Castro is “an all-star,” Obama said. Obama names Castro for HUD

President Barack Obama launched the latest shake-up of his Cabinet on Friday, as he formally announced his intention to nominate Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to lead Office of Management and Budget, and selected San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro to replace Donovan at HUD.

“I’m absolutely confident that these two individuals are gonna do a great job, because they’ve done a great job in everything that they’ve done in the past,” Obama said at an afternoon ceremony in the State Dining Room. “They are proven leaders, they are proven managers, they are going to be effective, and most importantly, they’ve got huge heart.”


Nodding to obstacles the two may face, the president added: “I am hopeful that the Senate confirms them both without games or without delay.”

( Also on POLITICO: For Julián Castro, plenty of challenges at HUD)

If confirmed by the Senate, Donovan — who worked on housing policy in the Clinton administration, and in New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg — will have a sizable role in shaping Obama’s progressive legacy, as the administration focuses on regulations and other executive actions to put points on the board. He would replace Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who Obama tapped in April to replace Kathleen Sebelius as health and human services secretary.

“I’m absolutely confident he will do a great job leading the Office of Management and Budget,” Obama said.

Donovan said he looks forward to being surrounded by colleagues who are obsessed with data, as he is, but “as the president said earlier this year, the budget is not just about numbers. It is about our values and it is about our future. That is why I have always viewed OMB’s unique role as critical.”

( PHOTOS: 10 key facts about Julian Castro)

Castro, 39, is widely seen as a rising Democratic star who could be a strong contender for the vice presidential slot in 2016, especially if Hillary Clinton is the presidential nominee. He attracted national attention in 2012 when he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, something Obama noted Friday.

Watching Castro, the president saw “a pretty good speaker, not bad-looking, talk about how America is the only place where his story could even be possible,” he said, making an implicit comparison to his own 2004 keynote.”I watched and I thought, that’s not bad.”

Joining the Cabinet, even in a less visible department like HUD, helps raise Castro’s national profile while adding Washington experience to a resume that includes nine years in San Antonio city government — four in the city council, and five as mayor — and a few years practicing law. While the HUD job helps position him politically, it’s also a role for which the administration and many housing groups say he is well prepared based on the work he’s done back home in Texas.

The grandson of immigrants, Castro is “an all-star,” Obama said, who has lived the American dream as he’s risen from humble beginnings to a mayoralty and now, potentially, the Cabinet.

Speaking to reporters at the White House after the event, Castro’s twin, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said his brother isn’t just thinking about his political prospects.

“It wasn’t just a matter of him joining the Cabinet or him trying to take some step up,” the congressman said. “If he was going to join the Cabinet, it was going to be on subject matter that he’s very familiar with and he felt like he really had a voice to lend to it. And housing and urban development is right in his wheelhouse.”

Edward-Isaac Dovere contributed to this report.