Rosie Castro (center) gets congratulated by supporters after City Council votes to appoint her as the interim District 7 councilperson to replace Ana Sandoval on Wednesday, Mar. 1, 2023. Castro will be officially sworn in to office on Thursday – a position she will hold for at least the next three months.
Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer
The official nod hasn’t been given just yet but it appears the San Antonio City Council has found their new temporary representative for District 7: the Alamo City’s very own Rosie Castro. An announcement was made to the public following a handful of interviews at the Wednesday, March 1, City Council meeting.
One more round of interviews will commence for Castro, the lone remaining candidate, on Thursday, March 2. If selected by the San Antonio City Council, the longtime civil rights activist would immediately take her seat as District 7 councilwoman where she would finish the last three months of former Councilwoman Ana Sandoval’s term. Castro and the other three applicants chose not to run in upcoming May 6 elections.
Sandoval announced in January she would be stepping down from her position immediately to take a job with University Health after a tumultuous two years.
Castro is perhaps best known for being the mother of two of San Antonio’s most recognizable political figures in former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro and current Congressman Joaquin Castro, who revealed earlier this week a cancer diagnosis. As a lifelong San Antonian, she carries with her over 30 years as a District 7 resident.
Between 1982 to 1988, Castro served as a liaison to San Antonio’s personnel director and was the director of the Mexican American Equal Rights Council back in 1976. Currently, she’s self-employed as a consultant on public and nonprofit issues.