Doggett says Casar should stay out of his district: '2 seats is better than 1'

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Many political pundits saw a potential primary between U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, and U.S. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, as a key part of the proposed partisan redrawing of Texas' U.S. Congressional map — a map President Donald Trump said he hopes give Republicans five new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Doggett disagrees with their assessment.

"Some reports have been a bit misleading in indicating that Austin's two congressional districts have been combined," Doggett wrote in a 'save the date' email acquired by Punchbowl News reporter Ally Mutnick. "Less than 1/3 of the residents of my reconfigured CD37 are currently in CD35, represented by Greg Casar, to the East of I35. And these are mostly individuals whom I represented 2 1/2 years ago when I was the Congressmember for those living in this stretch of territory from San Antonio to Austin."

Doggett proceeded to lay out his pragmatic case for Casar staying in the revamped CD35, instead of challenging him in CD37.

"CD35 still exists, but Trump reconfigured it to be based in San Antonio rather than Austin. Its population is 57% Hispanic, a larger percentage of Hispanics than in the current CD35. Shifting focus from Austin is difficult. I know what it was like to open a campaign office in McAllen and later in San Antonio," Doggett said. "With a strong effort, CD35 can be won: Beto O'Rourke edged out Ted Cruz; Joe Biden secured 49%, and though Trump won it, Colin Allred secured 48%. Next year Trump will not be on the ballot to draw MAGA to the polls. If this sorry Trump map is eventually approved, I remain hopeful that Congressman Casar will not abandon his reconfigured CD35, in which he is the only incumbent."

Mutnick posted the statement Monday morning with the caption, "Rep Lloyd DOGGETT is basically declaring war on Rep Greg CASAR." Doggett responded forty minutes later.

"My only war is against Trump! 2 seats better than 1," Doggett responded. "Abandoning winnable majority Hispanic #TX35 to challenge me in #TX37 helps Trump, divides progressives."

Around the same time, Casar posted on X "I love you Austin Texas," with a montage of photos of him in the community.

"Of course I plan to run for reelection in Austin," Casar said in a statement. "But the most important thing right now isn't any one person's political career. The most important thing is fighting Trump's gerrymandering, which is what I'm focused on."

'Abbott will continue calling session after session'

On August 1, both Doggett and Casar stood united at the Texas Capitol in protesting the proposed map.

"We will remain united fighting Republicans, not fighting one another," Doggett said before shaking Casar's hand.

Now, his tone has changed.

"I think that you'll see us together again, opposing these maps this week at various gatherings," Doggett said. "But the change is that it's become more apparent that Governor (Greg) Abbott will continue to call session after session until these maps eventually get approved. I have said from the outset that, while I don't think our focus should be on 'what-ifs'—'what if Congressman Casar comes over from his district to run in my district, or stays in his district.' It's been emphasized from the beginning that I filed for re-election, and I'm asking people of Austin to approve my continuing to serve them."

Casar is a former Austin City Councilmember, while Doggett has represented Austin for the entirety of his long political career. Doggett says he should be the one to continue to serve Austin, because his district is kept more intact—and because he thinks Casar has a better shot of winning the San Antonio-based district with the same name, but only 9.54% of the same voters.

"He is the incumbent, the only incumbent in (district) 35," Doggett said. "Casar is very well positioned to carry forward his message that he's been having across the country with Bernie Sanders directly to disaffected voters, (in a) predominately Hispanic district and carry the message that we want them in the Democratic party. That we're talking about kitchen table issues."

Changing of the guard?

Doggett made national headlines last summer after he became the first person to call on President Joe Biden to end his re-election campaign.

Doggett is currently 78—three years younger than Biden was when he called on him to step down—and 42 years older than Casar. But Doggett says his call to Biden wasn't about age.

"Bernie Sanders is five or six years older than me," Doggett said. "It is a question of effectiveness and electability. I never questioned Joe Biden's age, but when I saw his performance in the debate and when I saw his inability to generate support against Trump, I felt it was urgent for us to make a change.

With all that said, Doggett sees advantages to activating the youth vote in Austin.

"We will be successful only as we engage people of all generations," he said. "We need more younger people. We need more young people in Austin. But we've got to work together and focus on action to bring about the change from Trump that our country desperately needs."