Texas Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett Announces Potential Retirement

Texas Democrat Congressman Lloyd Doggett has announced he will not seek reelection if Republicans’ new congressional map becomes the law of the land in the Lone Star State.

If the new congressional lines go through, Doggett would likely have had to face off against fellow Democrat Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, in what could shape up to be a brutal primary race.

At 78 years old, he would be battling a member of the new cohort of Democrats. Casar is 36 and took office in 2023. By contrast Doggett has served in the House of Representatives since 1995. Before that he was a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court from 1989 to 1994 and a member of the Texas Senate from 1973 to 1985. The Texas legislator was the first incumbent Democrat member of Congress to publicly call for then-President Joe Biden to step aside after his disastrous debate performance against then-former President Donald Trump in 2024.

“I had hoped that my commitment to reelection under any circumstances would encourage Congressman Casar to not surrender his winnable district to Trump,” Doggett said in a statement on Thursday.

“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 [President Donald Trump’s] extreme gerrymandering prevails, I wish Congressman Casar the best,” Doggett continued.

Doggett has a strong connection to Austin, a city he represents in Congress, having been born there. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for both his undergraduate education and law school. Doggett currently holds the position of the ranking member of the Health Subcommittee on the House Ways & Means Committee. 

Doggett, like fellow members of the Democrat Party, has moved left on some social issues over time.

The Texas Democrat supported the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage in 1996. But in 2022 he voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed DOMA and validated same-sex marriage at the federal level.

Doggett earned a 100% from National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (now Reproductive Freedom for All) in 2003, and an “F” grade from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America from the 118th Congress. Doggett was a member of the so-called “Killer Bees,” Democrat state senators who stopped Republicans in the Texas state capital from conducting legislative business in 1979 by preventing them from obtaining a quorum. That move was partially replicated recently when some Democrats fled Texas to temporarily stop the vote on congressional redistricting.

The Daily Signal did not receive a reply to a request for comment from Doggett’s office.

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