U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett with supporters at the Texas State Capitol on Aug. 20. Later that day, the Texas House approved a new congressional map redrawn explicitly to deliver five additional U.S. House seats to Republicans. (photo by Brant Bingamon)

Rep. Lloyd Doggett will not seek reelection next fall if the Texas GOP congressional redistricting effort succeeds, the congressman announced in an email today. With the Lege close to passing the redistricting maps, that means this likely marks the last of Doggett’s three decades representing Austin in Congress.

However, Doggett held out hope in his message that the maps won’t be approved. “If this racially gerrymandered Trump map is rejected, as it should be, I will continue seeking reelection in Congressional District 37 to represent my neighbors in the only town I have ever called home,” Doggett wrote. “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 CD 37, even though it contains over 2/3rd of my current constituents.”

The gerrymandered maps currently being pushed through the legislature merge Austin’s two U.S. house districts into one. They combine most of Doggett’s current Congressional District 37 with about a third of U.S. Rep Greg Casar’s 35th Congressional District. Much of the newly drawn CD 35 is made up of east San Antonio and nearby conservative counties, making Casar’s path to reelection there more difficult.

In private conversations with local political leaders over the last two weeks, Doggett had promised to use his entire $6.2 million campaign fund to fend off a primary challenge from Casar in the 2026 election, arguing that Casar could win the newly drawn CD 35, beating Trump at his own game.

“My strong preference is to use my campaign funds to help others in our struggle against Trump tyranny,” Doggett told the Chronicle last week. “As the incumbent, Rep. Casar can bring a message to the disaffected, which we can all join in creating a national model for turning the Trump tide. If he does not surrender CD 35 to Trump, both of our progressive voices can remain united to prevent a Trump takeover.”

Though Casar did not speak publicly on challenging Doggett, it was clear he didn’t want to run in the new CD 35. Casar’s chief of staff, Stephanie Trinh, rejected the notion he should run in the district in an email to supporters last week, writing, “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, and it does not include any part of Austin, the city Greg has called home since college and represented for the past decade.”

Doggett’s today announcement caps two weeks of private and public pressure on the congressman to step aside. Though he referred to Casar’s “apparent decision” to run in CD 37 as “most unfortunate,” Doggett said he preferred to “devote the coming months to fighting Trump tyranny and serving Austin rather than waging a struggle with fellow Democrats.”

Read Doggett’s full statement below.

“With approval of the crooked Trump maps imminent, the future of redistricting turns next to the courts. If this racially gerrymandered Trump map is rejected, as it should be, I will continue seeking reelection in Congressional District 37 to represent my neighbors in the only town I have ever called home.

“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. The Trump-revised CD35 gains Hispanic population to become 57% Hispanic. While drawn to favor a Republican, it remains a competitive district in which Biden received 49% and Allred 48%.

“I had hoped that my commitment to reelection under any circumstances would encourage Congressman Casar to not surrender his winnable district to Trump. While his apparent decision is most unfortunate, I prefer to devote the coming months to fighting Trump tyranny and serving Austin rather than waging a struggle with fellow Democrats. If Trump extreme gerrymandering prevails, I wish Congressman Casar the best.”

This is a developing story. Read more in next week’s issue of The Austin Chronicle.