Casar, Doggett would run for same Austin congressional seat under GOP map, setting up clash of generations

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Austin Democratic Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett are on a collision course in Texas’ redrawn 37th Congressional District, setting up a potentially brutal primary between two progressives with national implications.

Tensions have been building between the two since Republicans in the Texas House unveiled a new congressional map that would consolidate Democrats’ two Austin-based seats into one. Both Casar and Doggett have said they would run in the sole Austin-based district left under the new GOP map.

Doggett, 78, has publicly stated that he plans to continue representing Austin, which he has served in some form for over 50 years dating back to his days in the state Senate. His current district takes in about two-thirds of the city’s residents, including most of West Austin, along with areas northwest and southwest of the city.

Casar, 36, currently represents the 35th Congressional District, which includes East Austin and runs alongside Interstate 35 to San Antonio. Doggett has publicly and privately suggested that Casar run in the redrawn 35th District, which would be shifted to east San Antonio and a handful of solidly Republican outlying counties, covering a territory that would have voted for Donald Trump by 10 percentage points in 2024.

But Casar, an Austinite who spent over six years on Austin City Council, has no plans to do so.

An email from his chief of staff Stephanie Trinh, obtained by The Texas Tribune and first reported by Punchbowl News, clarified that Casar’s “focus is on fighting the maps, but whatever happens he will be running for reelection in Austin.”

The proposed map has not yet been passed, thwarted thus far by state House Democrats’ exodus from Texas to deny the quorum needed to conduct business. But the absentee lawmakers do not expect to hold out forever.

A potential contest between Doggett and Casar would pit an Austin progressive institution against one of the party’s national rising stars, unearthing brewing Democratic tensions over age and experience, forcing Austin Democrats to choose between two well-liked champions and potentially exposing fault lines in a changing city.

In interviews with over a dozen Austin Democrats, leaders lamented the potential for a primary but had differing opinions on Doggett’s early maneuvering, who would be favored and how each congressman should proceed.

Doggett has stung first, both publicly and privately. In a save-the-date invitation to donors, first obtained by Punchbowl News, Doggett laid out his case for continuing to represent the seat and said he hoped Casar, who is Latino, runs in the new 35th Congressional District, a majority-Hispanic seat. Casar, he noted in the donor appeal, could use his organizing skills to win over “disaffected Hispanic voters.”

“Our best opportunity of holding CD 35 is for [Casar] to stay in it and fight Trump, though I know that is a difficult challenge for him,” Doggett said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “Coming over into a district that he represents very little of now is only going to lead to the kind of intra-party division that the Trump people always like to encourage.”

As drawn, the new 37th Congressional District includes about two-thirds of Doggett’s current constituents. The rest of the new 37th would come from Casar’s current district, pulling in his Austin political base — including the City Council seat he represented for over six years. The new 35th District, meanwhile, contains less than 10 percent of Casar’s constituents.

“Other than the fact that Republicans arbitrarily assigned this seat the same number as Greg’s current one, there’s no reason it would make sense for Greg to run in that district,” Trinh wrote in the email to supporters, while noting that nearly 250,000 of Casar’s current constituents would be in the new 37th District.

Trinh also said Doggett emailed donors without giving Casar or his team a heads-up that he planned to suggest Casar run in the 35th District. The two Democrats both attended a funeral for former Austin City Council member Bill Spelman Sunday morning, the same day Doggett’s email went out.

Doggett said the two did not have an opportunity to talk during the service. He added that Casar had sent fundraising messages before Sunday “to many of my contributors without mentioning in which district he was running.” Doggett said he did not feel that Casar needed to clear those messages with him, and so he “certainly saw no need to clear my unsurprising message to my supporters with him.”

Publicly, Casar has brushed off the potential primary confrontation, sticking to talk of fighting the map and rallying with angry Austinites. In an email his team sent to donors inviting them to a Monday fundraiser in Austin, neither Doggett nor the prospective primary was mentioned.

“Greg wanted to invite you to join him in Austin for an event in support of his re-election campaign,” the email reads. “We hope you can join us to hear important updates about how Trump and Texas Republicans are working to dismantle our representation in the state.”

Democrats are also bracing for the prospect of an expensive fight that could direct millions of dollars toward the internecine clash that would otherwise be deployed against Republicans in November. Doggett is sitting on a war chest of $6.2 million, accumulated over years from his safe seat. And Casar, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has access to a national donor network; with 101 members, the CPC is one of the largest caucuses in the House and includes some of the Democratic Party’s best fundraisers.

Doggett’s early public moves have forced Democrats to begin considering a primary they want to avoid — especially while they are trying to mobilize public opinion against the unpassed maps.

“I will in no way contemplate a fight between Casar and Doggett,” Austin state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, who did not weigh in on the potential primary, said in an interview from Illinois last week. “The maps are not done. The fight is just beginning. My mind is not there.”

Doggett unleashed

First elected to Congress in 1994, Doggett has already survived a handful of GOP redistricting rounds that forced him to move districts — including in the last mid-decade redraw of 2003, when Republicans carved up Austin and pushed Doggett to run for a newly drawn seat that ran from southern Travis County to the U.S.-Mexico border. The latest map would mark the fourth time the GOP-controlled Legislature has revamped district lines in a way that jeopardized Doggett’s tenure in office, perhaps explaining his willingness to speak out while most other Austin Democrats refuse to publicly acknowledge that the maps are likely bound to pass.

“Our odds are not as good as I would like them to be,” Doggett said of the effort to derail the GOP map. “It doesn't mean we don't fight to the finish, but I need to be prepared if we don't achieve the outcome that we want.”

But it’s precisely that attitude — laid bare in his email missive to donors — that has upset some Austin Democrats.

“Right now, what Texas Democrats should be talking about is how to support our Texas House Democrats who have broken quorum and fight like hell to keep these maps from passing,” former Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis said. “That's what I think left a bad taste in people’s perception [Tuesday] when they received this email from Congressman Doggett. It was as though he'd already moved on to accepting that these new maps were reality.”

A Democratic operative in Austin said the episode is emblematic of voters’ broader frustrations with the Democratic Party.

“I wish both of them — and I wish Lloyd in particular — would use this sort of energy in fighting the Trump administration and fighting these maps,” the operative said. “It just seems to me like he is rolling over and accepting it.”

Most elected officials in Austin are keeping their powder dry, saying they are focused on supporting the quorum break and building public momentum against the proposed map. But Austin Democrats’ silence is not ignorance.

“People really want the Democrats to stay focused and not make this into a fight before it even needs to happen,” said Monique Alcala, former executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. “A lot of folks, and particularly the leaders of color that I've talked to, they're just completely frustrated with the fact that Lloyd is just trying to get out in front on this.”

Some Austin Democrats said they understood where Doggett was coming from.

“I think what’s being shown is a frustration that Austin’s being sliced and diced in these maps,” said Austin state Rep. John Bucy. “They’re trying to silence our voices. We have two effective congressmen.”

Doggett, for his part, said he knows that most local Democrats want to avoid having to choose between two members of Congress they like and have known for years. Still, he said Casar has made calls to Austinites about potential endorsements, underscoring the need for him to be up front about his own plan to run in the 37th District.

“I'm not ready to start listing endorsements,” Doggett said. “Some folks have said, ‘You can count on me, but I would appreciate your holding it until we're sure this is going to happen.’”

Carlos Lopez, a Travis County Constable and former chair of the Austin Tejano Democrats, counts himself as one of those supporters. While he said he respects both Doggett and Casar, Doggett’s institutional knowledge and long career of public service in Austin matter to him.

“I hate to see there being some sort of split or division, but Doggett belongs to Austin and Austin belongs to Doggett,” Lopez said, adding that he agreed with Doggett’s case that Casar could win the newly drawn San Antonio seat.

Mike Siegel, a progressive Austin City Council member, said he respects both Casar and Doggett and does not relish having to make a decision. But he said Texas Democrats are in a decades-long struggle for political change — and if Austin can only have one Democratic voice in Congress, it should belong to Casar, who has the career runway and vision to offer progressive leadership, in Texas and beyond, for decades to come.

“Greg Casar represents hope in the long-term struggle and projecting our voice outwards,” Siegel said. “Not just representing our district, but fighting to win other districts, and setting an example for the type of leadership we need.”

Davis agreed, saying she would hate to see Casar’s bright future cut short.

Best known nationally for being the first Democrat to call on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race last summer, Doggett said he thinks his own seniority is an asset to Austin.

In his call for Biden to step down, Doggett said the then-president should “encourage a new generation of leaders” — an irony some Austin Democrats have noted. Doggett has said his thinking on Biden was related to ability, not age.

Tenure is the coin of the realm in Congress, where the most powerful committee posts go to members who have been there the longest. Doggett is the second-most senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee — the influential tax-writing panel — and the ranking member on its Health subcommittee. If Democrats win the House in 2026, Doggett would likely chair the subcommittee, which oversees policy dealing with health insurance and health care costs.

“When I talk about the importance of that seniority, it is in terms of being able to have a say on the vast majority of decisions that affect folks here in Austin, in their pocketbooks particularly,” Doggett said.

The longtime Austin Democrat also said his push for Casar to run in the 35th District is about Democrats holding onto as many seats as possible. He noted that his email to supporters did not contain "the slightest criticism of Greg."

“I'm just hoping that [Casar] will ultimately decide that the fight against Trump is the most important fight, and that he will help us win that district,” Doggett said. “I will join with enthusiasm, supporting him in that effort.”

Democrats agree that they want strong candidates in each seat, but disagree about who should run in each. One Austin Democrat, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Austinites remain enthusiastic about Doggett’s long record and agreed that Casar would have the best chance to win the San Antonio seat.

But another local Democrat suggested Doggett should be the one to run in the 35th District. Republicans may have drawn the battlefield, but it would be advantageous for Doggett, a well-funded Democrat with high name recognition, to close his career battling a Republican and making way for a younger member like Casar, the Democrat said.

What Doggett is asking of Casar could be career-ending for a young progressive with a national profile. The newly drawn 35th Congressional District not only voted for Trump; even in the strong Democratic year of 2018, Sen. Ted Cruz would have narrowly carried it had it existed then.

“Greg leaving Austin to run in this new south Texas seat would deprive Austin of Greg’s voice and growing influence as new chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and it would undercut Democrats’ chance to win in the new south Texas seat by running a candidate with deep ties to that community,” Trinh, Casar’s chief of staff, wrote in her email to supporters.

Unpacking the race

If it comes to a primary, Doggett’s model of decades-long retail politicking could be pitted against Casar’s background in labor organizing and city government.

In interviews with more than a dozen politicos in Austin, Democrats said that both Doggett and Casar have attentively maintained relationships across local politics.

Doggett has not faced a competitive race in years. But he has a large war chest and a long history of delivering constituent services.

“[Doggett’s] got a bit of Jake Pickle in him,” said Bill Aleshire, a former Democratic Travis County judge who now considers himself an independent. “I think he kind of likes campaigning. You make him campaign, shit, he’ll just go campaign.”

Multiple Democratic operatives said Casar, given his national profile, should be able to raise significant funds if needed. He would start the race at a financial disadvantage to Doggett, with just over $450,000 in his campaign account at last count.

Numerous Democrats lamented that such a battle was happening at all. Doggett, one statewide Democratic operative noted, is still “razor sharp” and has been a fixture on the Travis County ballot for decades, while Casar is “one of the most talented, capable voices” in the state.

“I think a lot of hearts will be with Casar and a lot of money would be on Doggett,” the operative said.

For the local elected officials and Democratic groups who have relationships with both, it could get awkward quickly — and detract from their decades-long mission of electing a Democrat statewide, particularly in next year’s U.S. Senate race.

But four Democrats active in Austin politics pointed out that attention may be the deciding factor. Turnout in Casar’s old north-central Austin City Council district was typically lower than that of other districts — meaning he would need to turn out lower-propensity voters to win.

“I do think Lloyd has to want low turnout,” the Democratic operative said. “And Greg's going to have to push his younger, more diverse voters out at a higher rate. That’s going to be difficult.”

A primary between the two could also be a microcosm of divides between whiter, wealthier West Austin and younger, working-class East Austin. Those cleavages were laid bare in the city’s 2022 mayoral race.

Younger voters, especially the large population of transplants, could determine the outcome. Austin experienced rapid growth during the pandemic; many newer Austinites are younger and less familiar with Doggett’s longstanding presence.

“The largest electorate we have [in Travis County] is between the ages of 18 to 35,” one Democratic activist said. “That could make or break a race, depending on how outreach is done, but I think Greg is in a better position to reach out to younger voters.”

But Doggett thinks he can capture young voters as well. Though it has been a long time since he has faced a competitive campaign, numerous Austin Democrats said he has a proven model of retail politicking and previously represented some East Austin voters who would be folded into the new 37th District. And Doggett noted he has knocked doors for Democrats around the city over the years — including a familiar one.

“I believe in engaging young people,” he said. “That's one of the reasons I went out and campaigned in the rain, block-to-block, for a young Greg Casar when he first ran for the City Council.”

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