Texas Democrats are fretting over a likely primary battle between Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Greg Casar (D-Texas) as Republicans move toward passing a new congressional map that pits the two incumbents against each other.
The proposed map, which gives Texas Republicans five congressional seats, draws the two Democratic lawmakers into one Austin-area district. A matchup would pit the 78-year-old Doggett, who was the first House Democrat to call on former President Biden to drop his presidential bid last year, against the 36-year-old Casar, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
But in what many Democrats call an ironic twist, Doggett is pushing for Casar to run in the newly redrawn 35th district. The move was perceived by some Texas Democrats as Doggett waving the white flag in the redistricting battle before the new map was officially passed by the state legislature.
Additionally, Democrats are voicing concerns that an ugly primary would only seek to benefit Republicans and drain resources that Democrats could be using elsewhere in the state next year.
In an interview with The Hill on Friday, Doggett called on Casar to “explain to voters why I should be ousted and why he is surrendering the district to Trump.”
“It’s certainly a battle that is unfortunate to divide Democrats at a time when we need to be united against Trump,” Doggett said. “But I don’t see it as having to be a particularly mean race.”
However, when asked whether he plans to spend the $6.2 million he has in the bank, Dogget said he plans to use the resources he has and to be “victorious.”
“That money was raised for my reelection and I plan to use it as necessary,” he said.
The back and forth ensued earlier this week when Doggett argued in an email to supporters that the new 35th district would be based in San Antonio, rather than Austin. Doggett is also claiming that Casar could help sway San Antonio’s 57 percent Hispanic population.
But in an email to Casar’s supporters obtained by The Hill, his chief of staff Stephanie Trinh wrote that Casar’s “focus right now is on fighting the maps and supporting our state legislators who have bravely left the state to slow down Republicans” and that Doggett sent his email to supporters without consulting Casar or his team.
“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, noting that the merged Austin-based 37th district would include nearly 250,000 of Casar’s current constituents and his former city council seat.
Casar currently represents the state’s 35th congressional district, which includes parts of the San Antonio metro area, as well as parts of Austin. Doggett represents the 37th district, which includes the majority of the city of Austin and some of its suburbs.
Under the proposed new maps, the 37th congressional district would become more Democratic while the new 35th district would become more conservative and include less than 10 percent of Casar’s current constituents. The new 37th district would include roughly two-thirds of Doggett’s constituents, while the rest would come from Casar’s Austin-area constituency, including his former city council seat that he held from 2015 to 2022.
Casar’s supporters note that Doggett has been in Congress for 30 years, having represented the 10th, 25th, 35th and 37th districts throughout his tenure.
Veteran Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha called Doggett’s insistence on running in the newly redrawn 37th district and pushing for Casar to run in the new 35th district “so ironic,” given Doggett’s calls last year for Biden to drop his presidential bid amid questions about his age and fitness to serve in office.
“There’s been frustration, especially after what we lived through after the last election cycle, with candidates not knowing the time to open the door to the next generation,” Rocha told The Hill.
“This would be an easy way for Lloyd to step down,” he added.
These frustrations come as Democrats as a party grapple with the issue of age following Biden’s decision to step down last year and the death of a number of Democratic lawmakers, who have recently died in office.
Democratic activist David Hogg, whose group Leaders We Deserve is dedicated to electing young Democrats, said Doggett should “take his own advice and pass the torch.”
“Thanks to Governor Abbott being a feckless Trump lackey, two incredible progressives might have to fight over the Austin seat,” Hogg said in a statement to The Hill. “Greg Casar is 36 and Lloyd Doggett is 78. This isn’t complicated, Lloyd should take his own advice and pass the torch instead of tearing down the youngest-ever Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.”
But Doggett said his issue with Biden running in 2024 did not have to do with the former president’s age, but “an electability problem” and a poor debate performance against Trump.
“There were many people who were more worried about their careers and offending the Democratic Party establishment who didn’t say a word,” the congressman said. “The fact that I was not starting a career was, I think, an asset in being able to speak truth to power even within my own party.”
Doggett is also arguing that the new 35th district presents an opportunity for Casar, given its large Latino population.
“[The new district] is a district that is much more Hispanic than the one he has today, 57 percent Hispanic,” Doggett said. “He is the incumbent. He has the power to bring all of his talent and his resources to bear on this district and demonstrate that we don’t have to surrender it to Trump.”
But Casar’s allies in the Latino and Hispanic community, including in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, are ready to defend him.
“Suggesting Greg Casar abandon Austin for another district just because of its Hispanic population is insulting and out of touch,” one Latino Democratic strategist told The Hill. “Lloyd Doggett should be fighting Republican gerrymandering, not telling one of Congress’s most effective progressive Latinos to step aside from the community he was elected to serve.”
Rocha said the subject has been “a hot topic in the Latino leaders group chat.”
“I think there is almost a 100-percent consensus that he will have robust support,” Rocha said.
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