Lloyd Doggett and Greg Casar's united front begins to fray amid redistricting fight

Ever since Republicans released their new congressional redistricting plan that pits Lloyd Doggett against Greg Casar, the two Austin Democrats have said they're focused on a common enemy: defeating President Donald Trump's push for five more GOP seats in next year's midterms.

“This isn't about my seat. This isn't about Congressman Doggett’s seat," Casar said at a rally outside the Governor's Mansion early this month where he and Doggett marched side by side with about 100 demonstrators. "This isn't about any member of Congress. This is about the people of the United States being able to have their voices heard in order to form a more perfect union.”

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But just days later, that vow of solidarity began to splinter. Doggett, in an email to supporters, suggested that even though the Democrats' fight to kill redistricting was ongoing, perhaps it was time to prepare for a Republican victory. To that effect, Doggett said, he was best suited to run in the new, safely-Democratic Austin district and Casar should shift his sights to a neighboring seat that will favor Republicans and does not include the state's capital city.

Casar, who represents District 35, has said he has no plans to run for a seat that will no longer include at least part of Austin. In an email to his supporters, Casar's aide Stephanie Trinh bristled at Doggett's suggestion.

"Without discussing it with Greg or his team, Congressman Doggett sent an email to supporters saying that if the maps pass Greg should leave Austin to run in a south-Texas district that Trump won by nearly 10 points," Trinh said in the email. "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 – fewer than 10% of Greg’s constituents would be in it."

With 30 years of service in the U.S. House under his belt, the 78-year-old Doggett stands to be among the top leaders in Congress if Democrats wrest control of the chamber next year.

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Casar is in only his second term in Washington. But at 36, he appears to be on the fast track for leadership. Heading into the 2025 congressional session, he was elected to chair the House's Progressive Caucus, and he used that platform to make appearances both in Texas and in other states to highlight the organization's agenda.

From a political standpoint, it makes perfect sense for Republicans to force Casar and Doggett into a cage match that only one can survive, said James Henson, who heads the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas.

"For all the unpredictability that we've seen in this (redistricting) process, this is one of the more predictable things," Henson said. "It's the core of their strategy, to put two Austin area Democrats together in the same district."

A generational divide

With the new maps appearing more and more certain, some Austin Democrats are reluctantly beginning to choose sides.

For Mike Siegel, a member of the Austin city council who made failed bids for a congressional seat in 2018 and 2020, a Doggett-Casar race would be about the future versus the past.

"Even though Congressman Doggett has the seniority and all this expertise, we really need to have a leader for many years to come," Siegel said. And (we need) someone who's really going build a movement not just represent a district, but build a movement for political change. And I think that's what Congressman Casar offers."

Alfred Stanley, an Austin Democratic operative whose career in the Austin political trenches is nearly as long as Doggett's, said the veteran congressman's long tenure would be hard to replace, especially if Democrats retake the majority in the U.S. House. He rejected any suggestion that time has passed Doggett by.

"In Congress, what matters is seniority in terms of being able to address the crucial problems," Stanley said. "If we lose Doggett, we're going to lose a crucial voice on that health subcommittee. It's irreplaceable. There's no question in my mind."

Since winning his first race for Congress in 1994, Doggett has built and maintained a grassroots network that propelled him to victory in 15 consecutive reelection campaigns. And he survived no fewer than three past Republican redistricting efforts that sought to end his career. 

Casar, too, is a product of the Democratic grassroots in Texas' most reliably Democratic large city. He was a workers rights organizer before winning a seat in the Austin city council in 2015, and won election to Congress in 2022.

At Saturday's rally on the steps of the Texas Capitol, the two appeared worlds apart. There was no joint photo opportunity, and their speeches were about an hour apart from one another.

Without mentioning Casar's name, Doggett made a back-handed case that his fellow Democrat is best positioned to deny Republicans at least one of the five new seats they are seeking.

"In the redrawn district that is nearest the one where we're standing right now, Hispanics have a strong majority, and Biden got 49% against Trump," Doggett said of the proposed district that would meander south toward San Antonio. "Is there anyone here who believes that we ought to abandon that or any of these other redrawn districts and surrender them to Trump? Do you think that a dynamic nominee and a united effort by all of us can beat Trump at his own game?"

Doggett, who was the first prominent Democrat to call for then-President Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign last year, has since disputed that he was picking a fight with his fellow Democrat, saying his "only war is against Trump."

For his part, Casar is using public appearances to highlight his commitment to representing Austin as a way to push back on any notion that he'd run for office outside of the city.

"When I feel lost or down, when I feel horrible, I think about all of you," Casar said at the Capitol rally. "I think about all of us. You all make me so proud of Austin, Texas. I'm proud that our city is fighting. I'm proud of the grit that we have, even when the odds are stacked against us. And we need that fight and that grit now more than ever."

Jen Ramos, a Democratic activist and a member of the state party's executive committee, said she's not ready to take sides, assuming the proposed map is enacted. But she added, the political landscape in Austin has shifted significantly during the half-century Doggett has been in public life.

"The political climate has changed. It's more diverse," Ramos said. "It could be anybody's game.

Staff writer Bayliss Wagner contributed to this report.