Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett announced Wednesday he will not seek reelection if Texas’ new congressional maps are allowed to stand, avoiding a potentially messy fight against Rep. Gregario Casar, also a Democrat.
The new Texas maps, which are designed to give Republicans an additional five seats in Congress, puts the 36-year-old Casar into the 37th Congressional District occupied by the 78-year-old Doggett.
“With approval of the crooked [President Donald] Trump maps imminent, the future of redistricting turns next to the courts,” Doggett said. “If the courts give Trump a victory in his scheme to maintain control of a compliant House, I will not seek reelection in the reconfigured CD37, even though it contains over 2/3rd of my current constituents. Most of Congressman Casar’s current CD35 is not located in Austin.”
Doggett said it was “unfortunate” that Casar would choose to run in his district and surrender his district to Trump.
“I prefer to devote the coming months to fighting Trump tyranny and serving Austin rather than waging a struggle with fellow Democrats,” Doggett said. “If Trump extreme gerrymandering prevails, I wish Congressman Casar the best.”
Doggett’s statement did not say whether he would retire or seek reelection in another district.
The Texas congressman had tried to convince Casar to run in the new 35th Congressional District, which covers the San Antonio area and where Trump won 54% of the vote in the 2024 presidential election. But Casar’s chief of staff said he would run only in his native Austin, Politico reported.
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