Doggett aims to avoid bitter fight over consolidated Texas district
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U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, center, poses with supporters at an event at Bryker Woods Elementary School in Austin on Wednesday. Photo: Asher Price/Axios
The first casualty of mid-decade Republican redistricting, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) told Axios on Wednesday he worried a reelection bid would have caused an intense intraparty fight.
Why it matters: Doggett, 78, says he thinks he could have won a primary against U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Austin), the 36-year-old Progressive Caucus chair, but with retirement nearing anyway, he decided not to.
Catch up quick: Casar and Doggett would have battled for a single Austin-based district under the new congressional map approved by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has said he'll sign the legislation.
What they're saying: Articles and opinion pieces about the brewing primary "spawned a lot of conflict between good friends of mine and friends of his," Doggett says.
- "It was clear that we were going to have six or seven months of very bitter and vigorous debate among friends who ought to be united to oppose Trump," Doggett says, adding he "probably wouldn't serve more than another term or two in Congress and that spurring six months of such vigorous opposition was going to be contrary to what I wanted."
Doggett says not "a single colleague" asked him to step aside. He adds he hasn't heard directly from Casar since Doggett's announcement last week that he would not run unless courts overturn proposed congressional maps.
- Doggett tells Axios he built up a list of people who were endorsing him over Casar.
- "I've seen no reason to release that list, because I know for many of them it was a hard choice, and they want to be able to work with Greg, too."
Driving the news: Doggett appeared Wednesday at Bryker Woods Elementary School to accept its inaugural distinguished alumnus award.
- Second, third and fourth graders learned that when he attended the school he served on the school's safety patrol. They heard about the time he missed the school carnival because he had stood a little too close to the kitchen stove and his flannel shirt caught fire.
Flashback: The event was poignant for Doggett, since he announced his first congressional run, in 1994, in front of the school.
- After his public remarks — which also focused on supporting public schools — a long line of students and parents waited to shake his hand and take pictures with him.
The big picture: The new map could give Republicans an additional five seats in Congress. Democrats say the map disenfranchises Black and Latino voters.
The bottom line: "Help me understand what's going on," Jeffrey Hershey, a rice farmer who splits his time between Austin and rural Texas, asked Doggett, about his decision to yield to Casar.
- "I thought it was more important to avoid major battle here in Austin and to focus all our attention on the need to regain the state and Congress than it was to have that fight," Doggett told him.