New Texas Congressional Map Sends Two Democratic Progressives into a Vicious Battle to Remain in The U.S. House

The Texas Senate approved new congressional lines on Tuesday following weeks of criticism of the rare mid-decade redistricting effort to maintain GOP majority in the U.S. House. While the move quickly angered Democrats across the country, it also pitted two progressive stars against each other, battling for the same district.

The new district lines essentially combined Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) districts into one, resulting in an unexpected battle between the two lawmakers.

“They are going to be vicious,” one senior House Democrat told Axios, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer candid thoughts on a sensitive internal battle. The lawmaker predicted it will be Democrats’ most brutal member vs. member primary since California Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman faced off in 2012, or when Michigan Reps. John Dingell and Lynn Rivers fought over a seat in 2002.

The Democratic primary battle with the two lawmakers has not been made official yet. Doggett and Casar have had a close political alliance, with Casar still touting Doggett’s endorsement on his campaign website as of Wednesday. Still, the Progressive Caucus is on edge.

“Most of us are trying to stay out,” a senior House progressive wrote to Axios.

“It’s way too early to dish on this for me,” another one said.

Casar and Doggett would share a single Austin-based district under the new congressional map that Republican state legislators in Texas are proposing. Both lawmakers are angling to run in the new 37th district, which would be heavily Democratic and centered in Austin, according to Axios.

Doggett, in a campaign email on Sunday, wrote that “over ⅔ of my current constituents will remain the Trump configured CD37″ and that his “seniority is an asset, not a liability.” He also urged Casar “not to abandon his reconfigured CD35, in which he is the only incumbent,” noting that it would be majority Hispanic and arguing that Casar could “use his organizing skills and populist message to win over the disaffected, particularly disaffected Hispanic voters.”

Casar, however, is ruling out a run in the new 35th district, a San Antonio-area seat that voted for Trump by 10 percentage points and contains just a tenth of his current constituency, according to Axios.

Casar’s chief of staff Stephanie Trinh wrote in a campaign email on Tuesday that Doggett sent out his email “without discussing it with Greg or his team” and said it contained “incorrect information.”

“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,” she wrote. The 37th district, she added “would include all of Greg’s old city council district and nearly 250,000 of the people he currently represents.”

The rare mid-decade redistricting comes as President Trump has urged Republican lawmakers to try to create additional GOP-leaning seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.

“We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas,” Trump told CNBC’s Squawk Box earlier this month. “I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.”