Former Centralia resident and Southwest Washington congressional candidate David B. Castillo has found his way to a position in the nation's capital.
In October, the U.S. Senate, in a mass confirmation of Trump administration appointees, confirmed Castillo for the role of chief financial officer for the U.S. Department of Labor, roughly nine months after the second-term president took office.
With his final confirmation for the position in Washington, D.C., the Centralia High School graduate is now serving at a high level in the nation's Department of Labor, answering directly to U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor Kieth Sonderling.
The Department of Labor is also led by a fellow former Pacific Northwest politician. A one-term congressional representative for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, Lori Chavez DeRemer currently serves as the secretary of labor.
Despite not being confirmed until recently, Castillo has been serving in his new role in the federal government for nearly 10 months since he was first appointed by the Trump administration in May of last year.
In his role as chief financial officer for the Department of Labor, Castillo is responsible for the financial management of the department and providing reliable financial information to the rest of the department.
Castillo will also lead the department's yearly independent financial audit and, according to the Department of Labor website, is also responsible for finding opportunities to save money.
Castillo has a long record of financial management experience, including more than 17 years as a financial manager. He also boasts significant political experience in both Washington state and Washington, D.C.
Fifteen years ago, he mounted a campaign to become the representative for Washington’s Third Congressional District — the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania.
Now working in D.C., Castillo previously worked in the Seattle area as a financial adviser for Edward Jones for many years, but he grew up in Lewis County and, more specifically, in the Centralia area.
After graduating from Centralia High School, Castillo earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Washington in Seattle and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University in Spokane.
Castillo started his political career in the late 90s working as a campaign manager for Washington state Republican Don Benton’s failed bid to become representative for Washington’s Third Congressional District.
In the early 2000s, Castillo first took a position with the U.S. Department of Labor, and by 2004, he was appointed deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Not long after, Castillo took on the position as chief of staff for the Washington state House Republican Caucus before he was tapped in 2006 to help launch the Department of Homeland Security as part of the George W. Bush administration.
After his time working in the federal and state government, Castillo returned to Washington, starting his long tenure as a financial adviser at Edward Jones. Not long after, he launched his campaign to become representative for Washington’s Third Congressional District.
Castillo was an early entrant to the 2010 race, beginning his campaign in 2009 before the long-term incumbent, Democrat Brian Baird, announced that he would not seek reelection.
Despite his experience and early entrance, Castillo was quickly replaced as the Republican front-runner in the campaign by former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. Beutler would go on to flip the seat for the Republican Party and hold onto it for 12 years before failing to make it to the general election in the 2022 race. That competition featured a tight race between Gluesenkamp Perez and the current director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent.
